Monday’s big rally in Asia carried over to European markets despite multiple worldwide crises.
London’s FTSE index was just over 1% higher in midday trading, while the CAC-40 in Paris was up 1.1%. The DAX index in Frankfurt was closed for a public holiday.
A man wearing a face mask walks past a bank electronic board showing the Hong Kong share index at Hong Kong Stock Exchange, June 1, 2020.
The indexes in Hong Kong and Shanghai led Asia’s big day in equities trading Monday, closing 3.3% and 2.2% higher, respectively, despite China’s current diplomatic dispute with the United States over Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous status.
Tokyo’s Nikkei index closed 0.8%, while Sydney’s S&P/ASX finished the day 1.1% higher. Seoul’s KOSPI index ended 1.7% higher, and Taiwan’s TSEC index was up 1.2% at its closing bell.
Oil markets are fluctuating Monday, with U.S. crude selling at $35.19 per barrel, down 0.9%, while Brent crude, the international standard, is essentially even at $37.38 per barrel.
The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are trending downward in futures trading, indicating a shaky start for Wall Street. But it is unclear the negative numbers are fallout from the increasingly angry protests over last week’s death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man while in custody of police in the midwestern U.S. city of Minneapolis, Minnesota.