TOKYO (AP) — Global benchmarks were mostly higher on Thursday after U.S. stocks rallied to records following indications from the Federal Reserve that it expects to deliver interest rate cuts later this year.
France’s CAC 40 rose 0.5% in morning trading to 8,199.57, while Germany’s DAX edged up 0.8% to 18,159.77. Britain’s FTSE 100 surged nearly 1.2% to 7,829.19. U.S. shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures up 0.4% at 40,081.00. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% to 5,309.50.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 2.0% to finish at a record high 40,815.66 after the government reported exports grew nearly 8% in February from a year earlier, in the third straight month of increase.
Shipments of cars and electrical machinery increase, helping to trim the trade deficit to about half of what it was a year earlier, at 379 billion yen ($2.5 billion).
Hong Kong’s benchmark surged 1.9%, to 16,863.10, …