GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks rise as global economic picture improves

* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* Asia stocks, U.S. futures rise as economic optimism grows
* Treasury yield curve steepens and oil futures rise

By Stanley White and Imani Moise
TOKYO/NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Asian shares and U.S.
stock futures rose on Wednesday as governments around the world
looked poised to boost spending to help economies recover from
the coronavirus and vaccine roll-out programmes accelerated.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.58%. Australian stocks .AXJO gained
0.92%. Shares in China .CSI300 fell 0.03%.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 added 0.9%. Shares in Seoul .KS11
rose by 0.79%.
E-mini futures for the S&P 500 EScv1 rose 0.43%.
Euro Stoxx 50 futures STXEc1 rose 0.53%, German DAX
futures FDXc1 gained 0.41%, and FTSE futures FFIc1 rose
0.38%, pointing to a bright start to European trading.
Wall Street rallied on Tuesday on renewed hopes for U.S.
President Joe Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid bill
as the Senate took steps to allow Democrats to pass Biden's
package without Republican support.
The U.S. Treasury yield curve continued to steepen in Asian
trading, reflecting expectations for more fiscal spending and
growing economic optimism.
The roll-out of vaccines in many countries is gathering
pace, earnings season in the United States and Japan has so far
been favourable, and oil prices are at their highest in a year,
which are all positive signs for the global economy.
"All the ingredients for a rapid recovery from Q2 onwards
are getting sweetly baked into the reopening party cake," said
Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at Axi.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 1.57% on
Tuesday, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.39%, and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC added 1.56%.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS
gained 0.21%.
Russian authorities said they would be able to vaccinate
about 700 million people this year with the Sputnik V
coronavirus vaccine. Nations including India and Mexico are in
talks to ink emergency deals to start administering the vaccine.
In the United States, the Biden administration said it would
increase the weekly supply of shots nationwide and start
shipping coronavirus vaccines directly to retail pharmacies in
addition to ongoing deliveries to states.
Sentiment was also bolstered by higher-than-expected
earnings from tech giants Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc GOOG.O and Amazon.com
Inc AMZN.O , which overshadowed the retail trading frenzy that
roiled markets last week.
The difference between the yield in two-year and 10-year
Treasuries US2US10=TWEB , the most-closely watched part of the
yield curve, widened to 99.2 basis points on Wednesday.
The dollar traded near a two-month high against the euro
EUR=D3 as investors bet that the U.S. economy will recover
from the coronavirus shock faster than the euro zone.
The party for the Reddit-inspired trading frenzy that pushed
GameStop's stock up five-fold in five days last week appeared
over as its shares plunged 60% in heavy trade to close at
$90.00, less than one-fifth of an all-time peak on Friday.
"Wallstreetbets is hitting the point of diminishing value,"
Innes said. "Retail traders will still be a force to be reckoned
with, but we are perhaps past the peak YOLO world with the cat
out of the bag."
Spot silver XAG= rose 0.75% to $26.83 an ounce. That was a
minor rebound from an 8% tumble on Tuesday, and analysts say
the retail trader-driven rally to a near eight-year peak in the
previous session has faded.
Spot gold XAU= rose 0.14% to $1,840.91 per ounce. U.S.
gold futures GCv1 added 0.47% to $1,847.90.
Oil prices continued their upswing, supported by an
unexpected draw in U.S. crude stockpiles and a producer estimate
of a global oil market deficit this year. U.S. crude futures CLc1 climbed 0.38% to $54.97 a barrel,
just shy of a one-year high of $55.26 hit on Tuesday.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 0.45% to $57.72 a barrel,
close to their highest in more than 11 months.

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