Coronavirus: Stocks climb as US Treasury Secretary calls for new stimulus

Stocks rose in the US and Europe on Wednesday after US Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin urged lawmakers to approve new stimulus measures to tackle the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Signalling that the Trump administration may be willing to support a package worth as much as $1.5tn (£1.1tn), Mnuchin also suggested that he was willing to consider Democratic proposals to provide more funding for state and local governments.

While both sides remained locked in dispute on Tuesday, the funding has been one of the key stumbling blocks in the protracted standoff between Democrats and Republicans.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index (^STOXX) rose by around 1.6%, while London’s FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was up by more than 1.3%.

Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) climbed by around 2%, while France’s CAC 40 (^FCHI) was around 1.8% in the green.

Equities in the US opened higher even after a closely watched report on monthly private payroll gains sharply missed expectations on Wednesday.

Tech stocks once again led the charge, with industry bellwethers like Amazon (AMZN) and Google (GOOG) all opening at new record highs.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was up by around 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose by around 0.8%, while shares on the Nasdaq (^IXIC) climbed by around 0.1%.

While September tends to be a weak month for stocks, shares were also lifted by resilient data from the US construction and manufacturing sectors.

The gains in the US and Europe followed a mixed trading session in Asia.

Shanghai’s SSE Composite Index (^SSEC) fell by 0.17%, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) closed almost 0.4% in the red in Hong Kong.

But Japan’s Nikkei (^N225) rose by around 0.5% and the KOSPI Composite Index (^KOSPI) in South Korea climbed by more than 0.6%.

Australia’s ASX 200 (^AXJO) was up by more than 1.8% at market close even after a record second quarter contraction in economic output pushed the country into its first recession in 30 years.