Bonds & Stocks
US stocks climbed as positive earnings from technology companies this week reinforced the picture of a broadly robust corporate sector. The Nasdaq 100 jumped after the index set a new closing high on Tuesday. Netflix Inc.’s shares soared after subscriber numbers surpassed expectations and eBay Inc. rallied after pledging to cut about 9% of its workforce. Treasuries gained, with the 10-year yield dropping to around 4.09%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell the most in a month.
Economy
Forecasters who follow the US economy found themselves in a familiar place after a recent retail sales report: revising up their estimates for GDP. Quarterly data on gross domestic product due Thursday from the Bureau of Economic Analysis is expected to show the economy expanded at a 2% annual rate in the final three months of 2023, fueled by 2.5% growth in household spending.
World
China said it will cut the reserve requirement ratio for banks within two weeks and hinted at more support measures to come, an unusually early disclosure that shows mounting urgency across President Xi Jinping’s government to shore up the economy and halt a $6 trillion stock-market rout. The RRR — which determines the amount of cash banks have to keep in reserve — will be lowered by 0.5 percentage points on Feb. 5 to provide 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) in long-term liquidity to the market, the People’s Bank of China’s Governor Pan Gongsheng told reporters at a briefing.