Investors express cautious hope that trouble at indebted property giant China Evergrande can be contained.
U.S. stock futures rose, pointing to gains for major indexes as investors remained upbeat that trouble with property giant China Evergrande Group can be contained.
Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.5% Thursday, a day after a Federal Reserve policy update sent the stocks gauge to itsbiggest one-day gain since July. Contracts for the Dow Jones Industrial Average also added 0.5% and futures for the technology-focused Nasdaq-100 ticked up 0.3%.
Markets have been consumed this week with questions surrounding Evergrande, China’s largest property developer. Many fear its collapse could spread economic pain through the world’s second largest economy, with spillovers into global financial markets. The heavily indebted company has issued billions of dollars of bonds to international investors, with many trading for a fraction of their face value.
However, fears around its possible collapse appear to have ebbed—at least temporarily. Evergrande has an $83.5 million coupon payment due Thursday on its U.S. dollar bonds and hadn’t given an indication of whether it will miss the payment. On Wednesday, the company’s flagship property business said it would make aninterest payment on an onshore bond, giving Evergrande more time to work out what investors expect will be a lengthy and complicated restructuring.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Evergrande jumped 18%, though remain down 82% for the year. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, which bore the brunt of the selling pressure at the start of the week, jumped 1%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4%.
“The consensus view is that ultimately the Chinese will control this,” said John Roe, head of multi-asset funds at Legal and General Investment Management. “The worry is that if you worry about Evergrande you worry about all the other developers.”
Overseas markets were broadly higher. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.8%, led by shares of technology, auto and retail companies.
Weekly jobless claims data are due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimate that unemployment claims, a proxy for layoffs, declined to 320,000 in the week ended Sept. 18, from 332,000 the prior week.
Also upcoming, surveys of purchasing managers from a number of large economies will be scrutinized for signs of a further slowdown in global growth during September.IHS Markitis due to release figures for the U.S service and manufacturing sectors at 9:45 a.m.
The Bank of England is expected to keep monetary policy on hold in the face of rising inflation when the central bank releases its latest decision at 7 a.m. The pound strengthened 0.2% to trade at $1.3654.
Investors also were digesting the Federal Reserve’s decision to tee up a reversal of its pandemic stimulus measures in November. New projections released at the end of the Fed’s two-day policy meeting Wednesday showed half of 18 officialsexpect to raise interest ratesby the end of 2022.
That has given money managers confidence the Fed won’t allow the current bout of inflation to become entrenched, according to Mr. Roe. “The most interesting thing about both the current statement and also the last couple of statements has almost been a rowing back on the idea they’re really going to let inflation rip before they take action,” he said.
In the bond market, the yield on 10-year Treasury notes ticked down to 1.331% from 1.332% Wednesday. Yields move in the opposite direction to bond prices.
Commodity prices were stable. Brent-crude futures edged up 0.2% to $75.52 a barrel.