U.S. stocks rose, oil rebounded to $64:30 a barrel and long-dated Treasury yields climbed Friday on optimism over the vaccine rollout and after the Federal Reserve freed banks from restrictions on dividends.
The S&P 500 Index turned positive for the week, led by advances for financial companies Friday.
Small-cap stocks posted some of the biggest gains on bets the U.S. is getting closer to the end of lockdowns. The dollar edged lower but remained on course for its best week in three.
Risk appetite also came back in Europe and Asia, capping a volatile week beset with vaccine-supply disputes, a traffic block on the Suez canal and further deterioration in China’s relations with the West.
The U.S. outlook got a boost after President Joe Biden doubled the goal for vaccinations in his first 100 days in office to 200 million.
“The tone of the market has somehow altered from angst to optimism, spurred by President Biden’s doubling of the U.S. vaccine-rollout target and the Fed’s end to pandemic-era dividend cuts,” Nema Ramkhelawan-Bhana, a strategist at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg, wrote in a note. “It’s remarkable how little it takes to shift the mood.”
The delay in freeing the ship stuck on the Suez Canal boosted oil, trimming a weekly loss in West Texas Intermediate crude.
European stocks rose in a broad advance. Miners and energy firms benefited from a rotation into cyclical re-opening trades. An index of Asian shares jumped the most in two weeks.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin clawed back earlier losses to trade near $53,000
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