London — Global stocks rose for the seventh straight day to reach a record high on Tuesday, while bitcoin also reached a peak after an endorsement from Tesla in the prior session had sent the cryptocurrency up 20%.
A record high close for Wall Street overnight gave Asian stocks the confidence to push on further, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan up 0.3%, led by Chinese blue chips, up 2.2%. In keeping with the risk-on sentiment, oil also hit 13-month highs, helped by rising optimism about a return in fuel demand, with Brent crude up 0.8%.
Despite that, concern remains over the pace of vaccination, the efficacy of the vaccines against new strains of the coronavirus and the damage being done to economies, including the impact on the dollar of a planned $1.9-trillion stimulus package.