While you were sleeping: China cuts again, US tech stocks boom

A further loosening of monetary policy in China. the prospect of more stimulus from the European Central Bank and a tech-stocks led rally on Wall Street all boosted global markets overnight.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi signalled the central bank was ready to scale up its bond-buying stimulus programme.

His language and explicit reference to December was more direct than many had expected.

After Asian markets closed, China cut benchmark interest rates by 0.25 percentage points in Beijing’s latest bid to boost slowing economic growth.

Tech stocks rise 3%
On Wall Street, upbeat earnings from Alphabet (Google), Amazon and Microsoft pushed the technology sector up 3%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 157.54 points, or 0.9%, to 17,646.70, the highest close since July 31, before China’s devaluation.

The S&P 500 returned into positive territory for the first time since August, rising 22.64 points, or 1.1%, to 2075.15.

The Dow and S&P notched their fourth week in a row of gains, their longest stretch of advances since the seven weeks ended December 5, 2014.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 111.81 points, or 2.3%, to 5031.86. The index rose for the fourth straight week, its longest stretch of weekly increases since February.

Google parent Alphabet reported big gains from searches on mobile phones, tight controls on expenses and its first stock buyback. Shares rose $US38.19, or 5.6%, to $US719.33.

Amazon.com reported its second straight profitable quarter late Thursday, as sales rose 23% from a year earlier. Shares rose $US35.12, or 6.2%, to $US599.03.

Microsoft shares rose $US4.84, or 10%, to $US52.87 after the company posted better-than-expected net and cloud-services revenue.

European shares surge
The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 2%. Germany’s DAX, which includes many companies that rely heavily on Chinese demand, jumped 2.9%.

Markets in Asia also advanced. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average climbed 2.1% as the ECB’s stance and comments from an adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe added to speculation about further monetary easing from the Bank of Japan.

Both Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and the Shanghai Composite Index closed up 1.3%.

In currency markets, the euro deepened Thursday’s heavy losses against the US dollar, falling 0.6% to $US1.1015.

In commodity markets, U.S. crude-oil prices fell 1.7% to $US44.60 a barrel. Gold slipped 0.3% to $US1163.30 an ounce.