By Joanne Chiu
International markets and U.S. stock futures gained, as the Federal Reserve's latest support for financial markets outweighed concerns about a new wave of coronavirus infections.
In Tuesday morning trading in Hong Kong, regional benchmarks rallied. That largely erased the previous session's steep losses, which came after an uptick in coronavirus cases in the U.S. and China dented optimism over the pace of the global economic recovery.
The surge tracked a dramatic reversal in the U.S. on Monday, where indexes swung from early losses to close solidly higher.
More details from the Fed on how it would execute a program to buy individual U.S. corporate bonds, in addition to the exchange-traded funds it has already been purchasing, helped fuel advances on Wall Street.
In Asia, South Korea's Kospi Composite and Japan's Nikkei 225 both gained more than 4%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose more than 3%. Benchmarks in Hong Kong and Shanghai also advanced.
E-mini S&P 500 futures rose 1.6%, suggesting U.S. stocks could rise further on Tuesday.
Frank Benzimra, head of Asia equity strategy at Société Générale, said the Fed initiative had helped boost markets in Asia. "A combination of monetary and fiscal policies from global governments, including those in the U.S. and Europe, is something that is supporting the equity markets," he said.
However, Mr. Benzimra said a huge buildup in corporate and government debt cast a shadow over the health of the global economy. "You will have less productivity because more corporations are allowed to survive because of this artificial support," he said.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, a security that is seen as a haven, rose to 0.763%, according to Tradeweb, from 0.701% on Monday. Yields move in the opposite direction of prices.
Write to Joanne Chiu at joanne.chiu@wsj.com
