This content was published on <\/p>\n
April 16, 2026 – 02:07\n<\/p>\n
(Bloomberg) \u2014 Asian stocks tracked Wall Street higher as optimism around a potential US-Iran ceasefire and robust corporate earnings buoyed sentiment.<\/p>\n
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index opened 0.4% higher on Thursday as traders bet a de-escalation of the Middle East conflict will ease oil prices and lift economic growth. That was after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes both closed at record highs, with Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley leading financials higher after stronger-than-expected revenue.<\/p>\n
As Middle East tensions cooled, the dollar \u2014 which emerged as the haven of choice during the conflict \u2014 was a touch weaker on Thursday, with the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index set for its longest losing streak since December 2006. Brent crude traded just under $95 a barrel. Gold edged up to hover around $4,830 an ounce, while Treasuries were slightly stronger.<\/p>\n
The US and Iran are considering a two-week ceasefire extension to allow more time to negotiate a peace deal, according to a person familiar with the matter, reducing the risk of a resumption of fighting despite an intensifying standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
The rally in global stocks marks a sharp reversal from last month\u2019s selloff, which pushed the Nasdaq 100 into a technical correction, with investors returning to equities despite lingering uncertainty over the war\u2019s trajectory. Easing Middle East tensions, along with enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and resilient earnings, have led many skeptics to dial back their caution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we believe it is prudent to maintain a healthy sense of skepticism regarding this headline-driven optimism, underlying breadth and trend indicators are improving off March lows, or at least until the next headline proves otherwise,\u201d said Craig Johnson at Piper Sandler.<\/p>\n
Optimism that US-Iran peace efforts will gain traction is prompting investors to unwind the risk premium that has built up since the conflict began in late February.<\/p>\n
Technology stocks, which have lagged for much of the year, led gains on Wall Street. Oracle Corp. soared 4.2% and Microsoft Corp. rose 4.6%.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looked like a rotation day today within the tech sector, as investors sold the high flying chip stocks and bought the beaten down software names,\u201d said Matt Maley of Miller Tabak. \u201cThat said, after such a big run, we could see a near-term breather in the tech sector, but that would be normal and healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prospect of renewed negotiations helped sustain a broader risk-on tone across markets. Emerging-market stocks extended gains with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index climbing 1.2%, taking its two-day advance to more than 3% as it continues to recover losses triggered by the conflict.<\/p>\n
The S&P 500 Index has climbed in 10 of the past 11 sessions. Benchmarks in Singapore and Taiwan, as well as the MSCI Latin America Index, have all reversed losses that came after the US and Israel attacked Iran. China\u2019s CSI 300 Index became the latest gauge to recoup losses since the conflict started.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorth Asia, EM Europe and Latin America have led the relief rally, while oil-importing parts of ASEAN and India have lagged,\u201d Goldman Sachs analysts including Kamakshya Trivedi wrote in a report. \u201cWe expect this differentiation to persist given ongoing physical disruptions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corporate News:<\/p>\n
The Trump administration wants automakers and other American manufacturers to play a larger role in weapons production. Senior defense officials have held talks about producing weapons and other military supplies with the top executives of companies including General Motors and Ford, the Wall Street Journal reported. Jane Street Group has taken an additional $1 billion stake in AI cloud services provider CoreWeave Inc. and plans to spend about $6 billion on the company\u2019s technology offerings. Morgan Stanley\u2019s stock traders joined the rest of Wall Street with a record-breaking first quarter. Bank of America Corp.\u2019s traders pulled in the business\u2019s highest quarterly revenue in more than a decade, riding a wave of volatility that pushed the firm\u2019s stock-trading desk to an all-time record. Four of the six largest US banks reduced their headcount during the first three months of the year, with Wells Fargo & Co. leading the way with more than 4,000 cuts, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley added staff. Some of the main moves in markets:<\/p>\n
Stocks<\/p>\n
S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% as of 9:02 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures rose 0.6% Japan\u2019s Topix rose 0.7% Australia\u2019s S&P\/ASX 200 rose 0.2% Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.7% Currencies<\/p>\n
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1806 The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 158.83 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.8145 per dollar The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.7174 Cryptocurrencies<\/p>\n
Bitcoin fell 0.1% to $74,786.26 Ether fell 0.2% to $2,358.32 Bonds<\/p>\n
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.27% Australia\u2019s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.94% Commodities<\/p>\n
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.6% to $90.76 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.8% to $4,829.96 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.<\/p>\n
\u00a92026 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This content was published on April 16, 2026 – 02:07 (Bloomberg) \u2014 Asian stocks tracked Wall Street higher…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1990,41,17,1991],"class_list":{"0":"post-49647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-switzerland","8":"tag-business-general","9":"tag-swiss","10":"tag-switzerland","11":"tag-ticker"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116411817205884146","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}