Stocks climb on global growth hopes, oil rises

European stocks gained the most in two weeks on signs the global economic expansion that pushed benchmarks to records in 2017 remains intact. Commodities extended a record run of gains as oil climbed from the highest close in three years.

Car makers led the advance in Europe, with most of the sectors in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index showing green.  The MSCI Asia Pacific Index headed for a record close after benchmarks in Tokyo closed at their highest in more than a quarter century.

The dollar slipped and US Treasuries declined as minutes of last month’s Federal Reserve meeting showed policy makers continue to back a "gradual approach" to raising interest rates. Most European bonds pared Wednesday’s gains and the euro advanced toward a three-year high.

Investor sentiment in the first week of the New Year has been buoyed by bullish economic data from the US, to Europe to China. As a result, many stocks and commodities have extended gains from 2017, and bond yields have begun to tick higher.

Investors will be keeping a nervous eye on volume following the introduction of a slew of new regulation across Europe.

Here are highlights of key events investors will be monitoring the rest of the week:

Data on Thursday will include UK house prices, services PMIs for Spain, German, France, the UK, the eurozone and others. The US session features St. Louis Fed President James Bullard delivering a keynote address in Philadelphia and ADP employment data US.

December employment data are due on Friday. India releases an estimate for 2018 economic growth on Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.5% as of 8:09am London time and the biggest rise in two weeks. The MSCI All-Country World Index gained 0.3% to the highest on record. The UK’s FTSE 100 Index increased 0.3%.

Futures on the S&P 500 Index climbed 0.1% to the highest on record.

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped less than 0.05%. The euro gained 0.1% to $1.2024. The British pound climbed less than 0.05% to $1.3519.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased two basis points to 2.46%, the highest in more than a week. Germany’s 10-year yield climbed one basis point to 0.45%.

Britain’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 1.213%, the largest decrease in more than three weeks.

Commodities

The Bloomberg Commodity Index increased 0.2%, its 15th straight advance. Gold decreased 0.2% to $1,310.84 an ounce. West Texas Intermediate crude increased 0.8% to $62.11 a barrel, the highest in more than two years.

LME copper advanced 1.1% to $7 223.00 per metric ton, the largest gain in more than a week.