Global stocks edge higher as investors eye a steady drop in COVID-19 cases worldwide and ignore China’s economic slowdown

Global stocks edge higher as investors eye a steady drop in COVID-19 cases worldwide and ignore China’s economic slowdown

Global stocks rose on Tuesday as investors chose to focus on the growth rate in new coronavirus cases continuing to slow around the world, and brushed aside weak business data from China. Futures on the , , and rose between 0.1% to 0.3% as of 4:30 a.m. ET, suggesting a higher start to trading later on. The S&P 500 hit fresh record highs on Monday. Part of the market optimism has stemmed from Johns Hopkins University data that shows the global growth rate in cases has slowed from 9.4% to just 0.01% over the past five weeks, Deutsche Bank strategists said. The US has seen its since June, they added, to just under 8% from over 50% in a week last month. The key highlight for markets this week is new data on the US labor market due Friday. Deutsche's US economists expect the pace of hiring to slow after a . But an expected 700,000 increase in nonfarm payrolls should be more than sufficient to keep the Federal Reserve on track to announce tapering at its November meeting, Deutsche said. Additionally, they expect the US unemployment rate to fall to a post-pandemic low of 5.2%, from 5.4%. Elsewhere in