Global stocks rise after Mnuchin says $600 stimulus checks will begin arriving this week

Global stocks rose on Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said US stimulus payments could begin arriving in people's bank accounts as early as Tuesday night.
The $600 stimulus checks are considered meager, but could provide a boost to the US economy, which has been slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Risk sentiment remains buoyant, with vaccine roll-out hopes providing confidence despite growing COVID-19 case numbers," a chief market strategist said.
Britain on Wednesday became the first nation to authorize emergency use of Oxford and AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine.
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Global stocks rose on Wednesday after Steven Mnuchin Treasury Secretary said Tuesday that $600 stimulus checks could begin arriving this week.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq rose 0.3%

Mnuchin said stimulus checks could reach people's bank accounts as early as Tuesday night, while paper checks for those without government-registered bank accounts would be mailed Wednesday.

The checks are deemed inadequate by most Democrats, and by President Donald Trump, but they are expected to provide a boost for the US economy, which has been hammered by the pandemic.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday thwarted a vote on $2,000 stimulus checks, which have been backed by Trump, causing US stocks to retreat from record highs on the day. He introduced a bill linking the bigger checks to a repeal of Section 230, and the creation of a new commission to study election fraud, a move likely to doom the increased direct payments.

The US dollar dropped to its lowest point since April 2018, falling 0.3% to 89.74, as it continued to "beat a modest retreat overnight," said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA.

In Europe, Britain became the first country to authorize emergency use of Oxford and AstraZeneca's cheap and easy to store COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccine doses should be available early in the new year.

It is the second vaccine approved in the UK, following Pfizer and BioNTech's. "Risk sentiment remains buoyant, with vaccine roll-out hopes providing confidence despite growing COVID-19 case numbers," said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi.

The UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.2%, while the Euro Stoxx 50 and Germany's DAX were about flat.

In Asia, China revised down its national growth rate for 2019 to 6% from 6.1%, mainly because of a $77 billion cut in manufacturing. The manufacturing sector contributed about 2% of the country's 2019 GDP.

But China's statistics authority said industrial profits increased 2.4% in the first 11 months of 2020.

China's Shanghai Composite rose 1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 2%, and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.4%.

Bitcoin continued its historic streak by rising 1.3%, to $27,746. A tumultuous year saw "the king of crypto" surge in price from under $4,000 in March to a new all-time high of above $28,000 this week, said Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Bitfinex.

Oil prices rose, with Brent Crude up 0.5%, to $51.51, and West Texas Intermediate up 0.3%, to $48.32.

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