Fed Chair Janet Yellen's comments yesterday on U.S. interest rate hikes have boosted stocks globally
Asian markets responded positively to Fed Chair Janet Yellen's
remarks on the timing of the central bank's next rate hike. Higher commodity prices throughout the region also acted as a positive catalyst for stocks. In terms of the major benchmarks, Hong Kong's Hang Seng led the pack with a 1.4% gain.
Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei added 0.6%, bolstered by a weaker yen that ushered some major Japanese exporters higher. South Korea's Kospi re-opened after holiday, and promptly tacked on 1.3%. Rounding things out, China's Shanghai Composite edged just 0.07% higher, as traders tread cautiously ahead of capital outflows data.
Yellen is boosting stocks across the pond, too, with European markets rallying. Also contributing to the tailwinds are an upwardly revised eurozone first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) reading and a bounce in oil prices. At last check, London's FTSE 100 is up 0.4%, the French CAC 40 has advanced 1.3%, and Germany's DAX is 1.7% higher following a report that showed industrial production rose by a wider-than-expected margin in April.
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