Asian stocks and U.S. stock futures were higher on Tuesday as continued reports of economic reopening across the globe boosted investor optimism. Oil prices also extended gains on anticipation that demand for fuel would increase with the reopening.
U.S. WTI futures jumped 6.23 percent as of 1:44 p.m. HK/SIN to $21.66 per barrel. Brent crude futures were up 3.86 percent to $28.25 per barrel. The optimism came specifically as U.S. governors in New York and California, two of the hardest-hit states, announced plans for gradual reopening of their economies.
Asian stocks gained broadly despite holidays keeping markets closed in China, Japan, and South Korea. Australia's ASX 200 gained 1.31 percent by the early afternoon in Asia, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.83 percent. On Monday, Hong Kong's government announced that the region's economy contracted 8.9 percent in Q1 2020, the steepest contraction on record since 1974. The Hang Seng Index eased more than 4 percent during Monday's Asian trading session.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 202 points, hinting to an opening gain of some 135 points. All three Wall Street benchmarks closed higher on Monday, with the biggest gains coming from the NASDAQ which closed up 1.23 percent. Gains were capped by concerns over a second wave of coronavirus cases and by comments by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who said that while the number of new coronavirus cases in his state seems to be leveling off, the state is not seeing the decline in new daily cases that he'd hoped for by this point.
Also keeping pressure on stock prices is the brewing tensions between the U.S. and China which could see an escalation in tariffs. A report published last month by the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), before the latest comments against China, indicated that anti-China sentiment is at its highest levels since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Currency Movements
The dollar eased against its primary trading partners on Tuesday after heading higher on Monday. The dollar index slid 0.06 percent to trade at 99.42 .DXY. The greenback edged down against the yen, easing 0.103 percent to 106.62. The British pound strengthened 0.2 percent against the dollar to $1.247, while the euro traded flat against the greenback. The Australian dollar surged 0.51 percent against the greenback to trade at $0.646.