World shares hit highs as markets focus on earnings

World shares hit highs as markets focus on earnings

But U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open for Wall Street, after the S&P 500 and the Dow closed at record highs in the previous session. Matthias Scheiber, global head of portfolio management at Wells Fargo Asset Management cited low interest rates, the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and the fiscal stimulus package in the United States as reasons for his bullish stance on equities."Risk is coming down, volatility is coming down “¦ we see the slow reopening of global economies, the rollout of the vaccine and the huge catch-up in demand so from that perspective it should be positive for economic growth.""We had a strong rally in cyclical and value stocks since the start of this year - we would like to see confirmation in the earnings."Earnings from IBM and Coca-Cola are due later in the session. Netflix reports on Tuesday. Later in the week, American Airlines and Southwest will be the first major post-COVID cyclicals to post results.The European Central Bank meeting on Thursday will also be in focus this week. ECB President Christine Lagarde said last week that the euro zone economy is still standing on the "two crutches" of monetary and fiscal stimulus and these cannot be