Stocks indexes climb with US technology shares up; silver jumps

NEW YORK/LONDON - Stock indexes rose with U.S. technology shares on Monday and silver also jumped, as investors went for bargains in markets beaten down last week. 

Earlier, stocks in Japan rose to a record high following the resounding election win of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The yen strengthened following the victory as well, reversing six consecutive days of losses.

British stocks and bonds had come under pressure as Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced calls to quit from his party’s leader in Scotland after two key aides resigned ‌in as many days. London’s FTSE 100 stock index erased earlier falls and was last higher.

A Bloomberg News report, citing unnamed sources, that said China ‌had urged banks to curb U.S. Treasury exposure weighed further on ‌the U.S. dollar, while Treasury yields were up.

Technology shares led gains on Wall Street and the Nasdaq was up the most of the three major U.S. indexes. Software names in particular were pressured the previous week by concerns that artificial intelligence could intensify competition and squeeze margins.

“On the stock front, it seems ​to be the traditional buy-the-dip by retail investors,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice ‌president and advisor for Wealthspire Advisors in ⁠Westport, Connecticut.

Investors awaited economic data this week that could shed light on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path. The January nonfarm payrolls report is due on Wednesday, and January consumer ‌price index is due on Friday. Traders are now pricing in the year’s first rate cut in June, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 12.29 points, or 0.02%, to 50,127.96, the S&P 500 rose 37.48 points, or ‌0.54%, to 6,969.78 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 227.91 points, or 0.99%, to 23,259.00.

The Dow surged on Friday to close above the 50,000 level for the first time.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 10.99 points, or 1.05%, to 1,053.81. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.66%.

Japan’s Nikkei headlined the ‌gains with a rise of 3.9%, ​hitting all-time ‌highs as a decisive majority for the ruling LDP party cleared the way for more spending and tax cuts.

The prospect of more borrowing pushed two-year Japanese government bond yields up to their highest since 1996 at 1.3%. 

The yen strengthened across the board, but most notably against the dollar, which ‌had recovered almost all of a steep slide against the Japanese currency in late January. 

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.63% to 96.99, with the euro up ​0.7% at $1.1899. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.73% to 156.05.

Britain’s 10-year gilt yield touched 4.6% earlier, while 30-year gilt yields briefly hit their highest since November. 

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury yields were higher, with the benchmark 10-year note coming off its biggest weekly drop since the middle of December, ahead of this week’s key economic data.

The ⁠yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 0.6 basis points to 4.212%, from 4.206% late on ​Friday.

In metals, spot silver climbed 5.8% to $82.49 per ounce, after largely struggling last week. It hit an ⁠all-time high of $121.64 on January 29. Gold prices also rose.

U.S. crude rose 1.49% to $64.50 a barrel and Brent rose to $69.05 per barrel, up 1.48% on the day.