SYDNEY (Reuters) - Global bond markets were under strain on Tuesday amid talk of central bank tightening and the risk of a robust reading on U.S. economic growth later in the week, though stellar results from Alphabet could support tech stocks in Asia.
A man looks at an electronic stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan February 9, 2018. REUTERS/Toru Hanai
Shares in the parent of Google climbed 3.6 percent after-hours to hit a record high, valuing the internet giant at a cool $870 billion.
That made up for an otherwise dull day on Wall Street where the Dow eased 0.06 percent, while the S&P 500 gained 0.18 percent and the Nasdaq 0.28 percent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei bounced 0.4 percent in early trade as a pullback in the yen eased concerns about earnings pressure on exporters.
Moves elsewhere were marginal with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan barely changed.
Bond bulls were still smarting from speculation that the Bank of Japan is close to announcing measures to scale back its massive monetary stimulus, a risk that lifted long-term borrowing costs globally.
Markets were worried that Japanese investors would have less incentive to hunt offshore for yield, said ANZ economist Felicity Emmett.
“The 10 basis-point steepening in the Japanese yield curve is massive in the context of a market that rarely moves more than 1” basis point, she added.
“It reflects a broader fear that central banks are reducing their purchases while U.S. bond supply is set to rise significantly.”
As a result, 10-year U.S. Treasury yields jumped to their highest in five weeks around 2.96 percent and were again nearing the psychological 3 percent bulwark.
Part of the move was driven by chatter that
