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China trade data boosts dollar, banks lead stocks higher

April 12, 2016 8:44 PM EDT

A man looks at an electronic board displaying the Nikkei average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, March 2, 2016. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rallied and major stock markets rose on Wednesday after JPMorgan's results beat lowered expectations and upbeat Chinese trade data offered hope Asia's biggest economy is stabilizing.

Wall Street gained after JPMorgan Chase's (NYSE: JPM) first quarter earnings fell nearly 7 percent but beat expectations. The S&P 500 financial sector gained more than 2 percent, helping boost major averages.

"It's a positive that (JPMorgan) earnings were well received," said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Greenwich, Connecticut. "It's just a quiet tape and there's not much going on, so it doesn't take much to create the move."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 187.03 points, or 1.06 percent, to 17,908.28, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 20.7 points, or 1 percent, to 2,082.42 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 75.33 points, or 1.55 percent, to 4,947.42.

The MSCI All World Index <.MIWD00000PUS> gained 1.4 percent to end at a new high for 2016 and marking the first time it has closed in positive territory on the year.

The euro fell nearly 1 percent versus the greenback as signs of stronger Chinese economic growth boosted recently batted-down expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates again in the not-too-distant future.

China reported exports jumped 11.5 percent year on year in March, the first increase since June and well above market forecasts.

Europe's FTSEuroFirst index of leading 300 shares posted its biggest gain in a month, rising 2.6 percent to end at a three-week high near 1,350. Gains in equities in Europe were led by banks <.SX7P>, which rose 6.3 percent, as investors welcomed assurances from Italy's economy minister that European authorities will not block the country's bank fund.

Chinese stocks <.SSEC> added 1.4 percent, while Japan's Nikkei <.N225> rose 2.8 percent for its biggest daily gain in six weeks.

OIL HOLDS KEY LEVEL

Oil prices fell from a four-month high in choppy trading as comments from Russia's energy minister added to doubts that a producer meeting set for Sunday in Doha could yield a freeze in output.

Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi ruled out an output cut, in comments to Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper published on Wednesday.

Brent fell 1.8 percent to $43.91 a barrel in a choppy session, while U.S. crude settled down 1 percent to $41.76. Both held above their 200-day moving average.

The euro fell 0.9 percent against the dollar to $1.1277 , helping the dollar index <.DXY> to climb 0.9 percent to 94.768 and further away from its near eight-month low of 93.627 struck recently.

Further supporting the U.S. currency, the Fed said the U.S. economy continued to expand from late February to early April and low unemployment appears to be spurring an uptick in wage growth.

The U.S. Treasury 10-year note rose 3/32 in price to yield 1.772 percent from 1.781 percent late on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos and David Gaffen, additional reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Meredith Mazzilli)



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