NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - World shares rose on Thursday after Chinese exports proved far stronger than expected, while the U.S. dollar climbed to two-week highs on its safe-haven status after another report showed millions more Americans took unemployment aid.
Initial U.S. jobless claims for state unemployment benefits totalled a seasonally adjusted 3.169 million for the week ended May 2, down from a revised 3.846 million in the prior week, the Labor Department’s weekly jobless claims report showed.
The data reinforced economists’ expectations of a protracted recovery for the U.S. economy, which is reeling from nationwide lockdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The pace is slowing down, which is providing some optimism that we are finally going to see things bottom out,” said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, referring to unemployment claims.
Stocks globally were bolstered by Beijing reporting a 3.5% rise in exports in April from a year earlier, confounding expectations of a 15.1% fall and outweighing a 14.2% drop in imports.
The unexpected strong showing boosted speculation China could recover from its coronavirus lockdown quicker than expected and support global growth in the process.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 276.02 points, or 1.17%, to 23,940.66, the S&P 500 gained 33.9 points, or 1.19%, to 2,882.32 and the Nasdaq Composite added 86.21 points, or 0.97%, to 8,940.59.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.73%.
The news also helped Japan’s Nikkei and Seoul’s Kopsi shake off early wobbles in Asia, and Europe’s main London,
