Global stocks rally as US narrowly averts fiscal crisis

A long-awaited deal to avoid a US fiscal crisis prompted a broad global market rally today with shares and commodities rising sharply while the dollar and safe-haven government bonds fell.

A long-awaited deal to avoid a US fiscal crisis prompted a broad global market rally on Wednesday with shares and commodities rising sharply while the dollar and safe-haven government bonds fell.

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After a last minute scramble US lawmakers approved a plan on Tuesday to prevent huge tax increases and delay spending cuts that together would have pushed the world s largest economy off the “fiscal cliff” and into a likely recession.

European markets followed their Asian counterparts and rallied on the news while futures prices pointed to Wall Street doing the same. London’s FTSE, Frankfurt’s DAX and the CAC 40 index in Paris were up between 2.1% and 2.4% and still climbing in late morning trade. The rises pushed the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 up 1.9% and the MSCI world index up 1%, leaving it just below a 1-1/2 year high.

“This is great news for global growth and explains why shares and other growth-related assets are up strongly today,” said Shane Oliver, strategist, AMP Capital.

Though the US deal is not as far-reaching as markets had wanted, it triggered a global rally covering assets as well. Assets, seen as more risky, rose across the board, with oil up 1% to $112 gold gaining $11 an ounce and copper up more than 2% in its biggest daily rise in six weeks.