NEW YORK, Jan 14 — A gauge of global stocks scored its sixth straight session of gains yesterday as investors assessed the start of US earnings season and the path of inflation, while the yen jumped to a seven-month high on speculation the Bank of Japan may alter its loose monetary policy.
Helping to alleviate the initial selling pressure was data showing US consumers see inflation easing over the next 12 months, according to the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. That came on the heels of the consumer price index reading on Thursday which showed consumer prices fell slightly in December.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112.84 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 34,302.81, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 15.89 points, or 0.40 per cent, at 3,999.06 and the Nasdaq Composite added 78.05 points, or 0.71 per cent, at 11,079.16. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.52 per cent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.65 per cent. The MSCI index hit a one-month high of 637.18 in a six-day rally, its longest in slightly more than two years.
The BOJ subsequently stepped in to announce two separate rounds of emergency buying to pull the yield back down.