Global shares headed for six months of gains

Global shares tracked Asia lower on July 30 but head for their sixth straight month of surges. Notably, strong corporate earnings along with central bank largesse kept sentiment unchanged. The U.S dollar stood close to a one-month low.

MSCI’s World index fell 0.3%, leaving it broadly flat on the week. However, it is up 1.1% for the month, close to a record high.

In Europe, UniCredit, BNP Paribas and Eni witnessed profits rise on Friday. However, underwhelming numbers overnight from Amazon.com confirmed it was not all one-way traffic.

Furthermore, the Bank of America analyst announced that they had become neutral on European equities after a 60% increase year-to-date. They added that they anticipated the STOXX Europe 600 to remain close to current levels of 460 until early in Q4.

Moreover, the STOXX Europe 600 recovered from its lows to trade down 0.6%. Remarkably, MSCI Asia Index (excluding Japan) was down 1.1%.

Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures fell 0.6% to 1.1% after strong earnings and solid second-quarter U.S. growth numbers. Notably, that had helped blue-chips in the world’s largest economy hit a record high.

The U.S. economy increased past pre-pandemic levels in Q2, helped by growing COVID-19 vaccinations and government aid. However, the expansion dropped short of anticipations, and rising COVID-19 cases are clouding the outlook for the current quarter.

German government bond yields witnessed biggest monthly fall since January 2020

Moreover, benchmark 10-year notes last yielded 1.2473%, while on Thursday, it stood at 1.269%. Meanwhile, the 30-year yield stood at 1.9013%, down from 1.916% in the previous session.

Additionally, the spread between the U.S. 10-year and 2-year yield declined to 105 basis points.

Notably, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell announced this week that rate rises are some ways off, and the job market still had some ground to cover before asset tapering could start. Meanwhile, this weighed on the dollar to one-month lows on Friday. It was set for its worst week since May.

The U.S. dollar index was last flat at 91.845. Meanwhile, the euro gained 0.1% against the dollar to hit $1.1897. The greenback against the Japanese yen gained 0.1% at 109.57.

Besides, in European debt markets, German government bond yields were set for their biggest monthly decline since January 2020, as investors observed inflation data in the bloc. However, they were steady on the day.