Global stocks rise on Oracle rally and Fed rate cut hopes

Global stocks pushed higher Wednesday morning after Oracle gave investors a reason to care, and the bond market started whispering about possible rate cuts.

That’s what sent futures on the S&P 500 up 0.2%, as reported by CNBC. Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up 0.1%. But the Dow Jones Industrial Average (home to more old-school names) slipped 80 points, or 0.2%, as some traders shifted attention to fresh inflation readings coming later in the week.

Before the futures moved, the cash session on Tuesday had already finished strong. All three of America’s main indexes closed at record levels.

The S&P added 0.27%, Nasdaq gained 0.37%, and the Dow surged by 196.39 points, or 0.43%. That jump in the Dow came mostly from UnitedHealth, which rallied hard enough to drag the whole index with it.

Asia rallies while China reports deflation and Alibaba lifts tech

In Asia, the day was just as active. China’s CSI 300 ended 0.21% higher at 4,445.36. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.04%, while the tech-heavy Hang Seng Tech Index climbed 1.82%. But the economic data coming out of Beijing wasn’t as cheerful.

China’s consumer price index dropped 0.4% year over year in August. That missed expectations of a 0.2% decline, based on a Reuters poll.

The producer price index also fell, dropping 2.9% year over year. That matched forecasts, and was better than July’s 3.6% drop, but still points to weak demand.

Hong Kong-listed Alibaba Group rose 2.1% during the session after nearly touching a four-year high. That came after Chinese robotics company X Square Robot revealed it raised $100 million in a funding round led by Alibaba Cloud.

The deal caught attention fast and pushed investors back into Chinese tech.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed at a record 43,837.67, up 0.87%. The Topix index also rose 0.6%, finishing at 3,140.97. South Korea’s Kospi extended its winning streak to seven straight sessions with a 1.67% gain to close at 3,314.53.

The Kosdaq, South Korea’s small-cap index, gained 0.53%. On the labor front, the country’s unemployment rate ticked up to 2.6% in August from 2.5% the month before.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.31% and finished the session at 8,830.4. In India, the Nifty 50 rose 0.56%, while the Sensex was up 0.54%.

Asian hardware firms tied to Apple moved up too, after the company launched new iPhones, AirPods, and Apple Watches Tuesday, as Cryptopolitan reported.

Foxconn, based in Taiwan, rose 1.2%, while Samsung Electronics climbed 1.4%. Apple’s own stock didn’t benefit though, it dropped 1.48%, as traders didn’t seem thrilled with the latest lineup.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 was up 0.5% shortly after the bell, with all major sectors in the green. France’s CAC 40 increased 0.93% to 7,821.76. Italy’s FTSE MIB added 0.41%, ending at 42,179.68.

The FTSE 100 in the UK inched up 0.27% to close at 9,267.25. Germany’s DAX closed up 0.66% at 23,876.11. And Spain’s IBEX 35 wrapped the session with a 0.99% gain, finishing at 15,172.80.

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