- US futures rise, with the Nasdaq 100 boosted by Tesla's surge to $1,000, with more Big Tech earnings due.
- Third-quarter earnings are coming in strong, helping dispel some concern around inflation.
- A fourth Chinese property firm has defaulted on its overseas debt, rattling regional markets.
Global shares climbed on Tuesday, propelled by strong earnings, particularly across the technology sector, where shares in Tesla surged to record highs, that has helped soothe some of the deeper fears around a damaging spike in inflation over the longer term.
S&P 500 and Dow Jones futures were up roughly 0.2%, while those on the Nasdaq 100 rose by 0.5%, lifted by a burst of positive sentiment after Tesla secured a bulk order from rental car company Hertz, which pushed shares in the luxury electric vehicle maker past $1,000 - and into the $1 trillion valuation club.
Facebook's third-quarter earnings were mixed, as the social media company missed revenue estimates, but beat on earnings - adding to an already robust earnings season across the tech sector. Microsoft, Twitter, and Google parent Alphabet all report later on Tuesday. Its shares were up 2.3% in Tuesday's premarket.
The benchmark indices hit record highs the previous day, driven by more bumper earnings in a season in which 83.2% of companies have beaten expectations, according to Reuters. This outperformance is against a backdrop of bottlenecks across the global supply chain, along with a shortage of labor and raw materials have ignited inflationary pressures around the world in recent months.
"Even though this has been a good earnings season in aggregate we are starting to see more companies with supply backlogs, hiring difficulties, and rising input prices that are eating into profits," Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said.
Central bankers such as the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have insisted these pressures are temporary. And despite evidence to the contrary across the fixed-income markets, where gauges of investor inflation expectations are running at 16-year highs, some high-profile business leaders share the view of the policymakers to an extent.
ARK invest boss Cathie Wood, one of 2020's most successful stock-pickers, said she believes the current inflationary pressures will soon subside. In a series of tweets on Monday, she laid out the three deflationary forces that will "overcome the supply chain-induced inflation," responding to Jack Dorsey less than 72 hours after the Twitter CEO sounded an alarm on rising prices.
In Europe meanwhile, the major indices pushed higher, with the Stoxx 600 up 0.6%, London's FTSE 100 up 0.7% while Frankfurt's DAX gained 1.1%. Swiss lender UBS saw its strongest quarterly profits in six years in the three months to September, pushing its shares up 1.4% in Zurich.
Asia markets painted a mixed picture after Modern Land, another Chinese property developer, missed a payment on its overseas debt, becoming the fourth such Chinese firm to do so, as ripples from the debt problems at Evergrande wash through the sector.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.5%, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.3%. Seoul's Kospi gained 1.2% and Tokyo's Nikkei rose 1.8%.
"The Chinese housing sector continues to fall under the watchful eye of investors after Modern Land China Co. followed in Evergrande's footsteps in missing a payment on a dollar bond. Chinese defaults on offshore bonds are now at a record high," analysts at broker IG said in a daily note.
A decline across major commodities such as crude oil, copper, coal and lumber soothed some of the concern over the persistence of inflation. Brent crude and WTI futures were last down between 0.2 and 0.3% ahead of key US inventory data, while lumber futures dropped 1.4% and London Metal Exchange copper futures fell around 1%.
But so far this month, most raw material prices have been on a tear, with Chinese coal and UK natural gas up nearly 20%, and US gasoline up 10%.