Wall Street Shows Confidence to Start the New Year

BOSTON—World markets got 2022 off to an optimistic start, with U.S. and European equity markets powering higher on Monday, in parallel with rising oil prices and U.S. Treasury yields.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 60.52 points, or 0.17 percent, to 36,398.82, the S&P 500 gained 9.76 points, or 0.20 percent, to 4,775.94 and the Nasdaq Composite added 73.86 points, or 0.47 percent, to 15,718.83.

Leading the way was Tesla Inc., whose shares were up nearly 10 percent in early trading Monday after reporting stronger-than-expected quarterly deliveries of its electric cars.

The S&P index surged nearly 28 percent last year driving MSCI’s 50-country index of world stocks to its third consecutive year of double-digit gains.

London’s traders were enjoying their final day off, but mainland Europe made a lively start, notching an all-time peak for the STOXX 600 index after an encouraging flurry of euro zone and eastern European data.

The benchmark U.S. 10-year yields US10YT=RR touched a near six-week high to yield 1.6053 percent, with investors expecting a series of interest rate rises this year.

The commodity markets were also quickly back in the swing of things after their stellar last 18–20 months.

Oil rose above $78 a barrel on Monday, supported by tight supply and hopes of a further demand recovery in 2022.

“Infection rates are on the rise globally, restrictions are being introduced in several countries, the air travel sector, amongst others, is suffering, yet investors’ optimism is tangible,” said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.

The dollar also ticked up against its major rivals as an upbeat market mood.

Gold prices slipped as higher bond yields and rallying equities weighed on the metal’s safe-haven appeal as the new year gets under way, pushing it down from a six-week peak hit earlier in the session.

Spot gold dropped 1.4 percent to $1,802.12 an ounce, having touched its highest since Nov. 22 at $1,831.62. U.S. gold futures fell 1.07 percent to $1,807.90 an ounce.

By Lawrence Delevingne and Marc Jones