BEIJING – Asian stock markets rose Monday after the chief U.S. central banker expressed optimism the the American economy might start to recover this year from the coronavirus pandemic.
Benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Australia all advanced. That came despite Japan’s announcement its economy contracted in the first quarter and the Trump administration’s decision to step up a technology conflict with Beijing by tightening restrictions on Chinese tech giant Huawei.
Investors appear to be looking past the outbreak to a recovery despite rising infection numbers in the United States, Brazil and some other countries.