Asia, Europe Markets Surge In 2020 Day One Trade, US Futures Suggest Positive Open

Markets in Asia and Europe opened the year 2020 on a positive note after the previous year proved to be politically turbulent.

The U.S. futures too pointed towards a positive open on Thursday.

What Happened

People's Bank of China gave global investors reasons to cheer at the start of the year by relaxing its monetary policy.

The bank said that it would reduce the reserve requirement ratio for banks by another half a percentage point, essentially freeing up another $115 billion (800 billion yuan) in the Chinese financial market, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump also announced Wednesday that the phase one of the trade deal with China will be signed on January 15 at the White House.

Asia Stock Market

Here's how Asia markets performed on Thursday.

China's Shanghai Composite was up 1.15% at 3,085.20. Shenzhen Component added 1.93%.

Hong Kong's HSI index traded 1.25% higher at 28,543.52.

Singapore's STI index was up 0.91%. South Korea's KOSPI lost 1.02% at 2,175.17.

Markets in Japan were closed for a bank holiday.

EU Markets

Markets in the E.U. traded similarly higher on Thursday's trade.

France's CAC 40 added +1.28% at 6,055.70. The Netherlands' AEX index was up 1.2% at 611.82. Germany's DAX was up 0.7%.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 traded 0.84% higher at 7,605.81.

The overall Eurozone's Euro Stoxx 50 was up 1.13% at 3,787.50.

US Futures

Dow Jones Futures were up 0.54% at 28,663.00.

S&P 500 Futures traded 0.54% higher at 3,248.50.

NASDAQ 100 Futures were up 0.69% at 8,813.00.

Photo Credit: Rafael Matsunaga via Wikimedia