5 things to start your day
1) Chung could clash with Bailey as Britain teeters on the brink of recession | Chung could clash with Bailey as Britain teeters on the brink of recession
2) China has 'weaponised’ its dominance in key minerals, MPs say | Britain’s net zero movement is dangerously exposed because of its reliance on Beijing
3) Despite net zero pressure, coal use reaches record levels in 2023 | Growing usage in China and India is driving the demand
4) How diversity policies have affected white supremacy in office | Revelations about Aviva’s recruitment policy have sparked a diversity debate in the city
5) Ben Marlowe: Thames Water A new face but the same old problems | Chris Weston steps into a messy mess as the new chairman of Britain’s debt-ridden water company
What happened overnight
The Dow Jones industrial average of 30 leading US companies rose 0.43pc to 37,248.35, while the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.26pc to 4,719.55. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite added 0.19pc to 14,761.56.
Ryan Dedrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, said: „Under the surface we’re seeing extreme strength in small caps and mid caps, while large caps are taking a breather, a sign that this bull market is extending with more stocks.” The S&P 400 mid-cap index rose 2.37pc, while the S&P SmallCap 600 index gained 2.91pc.
The yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds fell to 3.9152pc from 4.033pc late on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve hinted that interest rate cuts are possible in 2024. It was the first time since August that the yield fell below 4pc.
Asian shares rose on Friday, led by a rally in the Dow.
Hong Kong led Asia’s gains as property developers soared after some Chinese cities eased buying restrictions.
The Hang Seng rose 3 percent to 16,893.62. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3 percent to 2,968.49.
Shares in troubled developer Country Garden rose 5.1 percent, while China Evergrande gained 3 percent and Sino Ocean Holding gained 5.7 percent.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that factory production rose 6.6 percent in November and retail sales rose more than 10 percent, an improvement in the economy after the post-Covid recovery faded more quickly than expected.
Investments in property, however, weakened further, indicating that the over-leveraging crisis in that industry has not been resolved.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index was up 0.9 percent at 32,965.55, while Seoul’s Kospi was up 0.9 percent at 2,565.71. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.9pc to 7,443.40.
Bangkok’s SET rose 1.3pc and India’s Sensex gained 0.6pc.