Stocks rise as investors await Fed signals, dollar edges up

NEW YORK/PARIS (Reuters) – Major stock indexes rose with technology shares on Tuesday while the dollar edged higher as investors focused on key market data later this week that could help to gauge the outlook for Federal Reserve policy.
Oil prices declined.

Investors were monitoring developments in Venezuela. The country’s main opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, has vowed to return home quickly, praising U.S. President Donald Trump for toppling her enemy, Nicolas Maduro, and declaring her movement ready to win a free election.

Trump’s administration plans to meet executives from oil companies later this week to discuss boosting production in Venezuela.

“There’s a lot of retooling that would need to get done to get these downstream producers ready for this type of crude oil. It could be done – and it probably will be. How long … how much investment it will take, and who makes that investment are still the big questions,” said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial.

Stock Indexes Climb

The raid on Venezuela boosted the stock of major U.S. oil companies on Monday, as investors bet Washington would grant U.S. firms access to Venezuela’s oil reserves.

The Dow hit a record high, while chip stocks rose on renewed optimism about artificial intelligence.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 526.20 points, or 1.07%, to 49,503.38, the S&P 500 rose 45.15 points, or 0.65%, to 6,947.20 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 147.73 points, or 0.63%, to 23,543.55.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 7.36 points, or 0.72%, to 1,035.38.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended up 0.58%.

Indexes in Germany and Spain hit record highs, as investors remained confident in the economic outlook despite escalating geopolitical tensions.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.17% to 98.56.

U.S. Economic Data To Set Market Tone

The upbeat mood in markets was driven by expectations for U.S. interest rate cuts. Traders were focused on the U.S. monthly employment report, due on Friday, which will influence market expectations for monetary policy. Financial markets are pricing in two Fed rate cuts this year, according to LSEG data.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 1.2 basis points to 4.175%, from 4.163% late on Monday.

U.S. crude fell $1.19 to settle at $57.13 a barrel and Brent declined $1.06 to settle at $60.70.

Gold extended gains on Tuesday, buoyed by safe-haven demand.

Spot gold rose 0.86% to $4,486.57 an ounce, after a nearly 3% gain in the previous session.

Copper soared to an all-time high and nickel leapt more than 9% to an 18-month peak as supply concerns fueled an early-year rally in industrial metals.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch in New York and Elizabeth Howcroft in Paris; additional reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Aidan Lewis, Rod Nickel)