Global Stocks: Wall Street post gains, China mixed and Japan closed for holiday

U.S. markets booked gains on Tuesday after Job openings climbed to 5.028 million in December from 4.847 million in November. That was the highest level since January 2001. November's figure was revised down from 4.972 million. Analysts had expected job openings to rise to 4.992 million. Wholesale inventories in the U.S. rose 0.1% in December, missing expectations for a 0.2% increase, after a 0.8% gain in November. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker said on Tuesday that interest rate hike in June is "the attractive option" for him.

Hopes for a compromise in Greek debt negotiations lend support to the markets. Greece seeks to get a 10 billion euro bridging plan in order to buy time and to avoid a funding crunch but according to German Finance Minister Schäuble there are no plans to give the country more time.

The DOW JONES index added +0.79% closing at 17,868.76 points. The S&P 500 gained +1.07% with a final quote of 2,068.59 points with Apple up 1.9%. Apple is the first company worth more than USD700 billion.

Yesterday weak inflation data from China fuelled expectations on further monetary easing by the People's Bank of China to boost the world's second largest economy. China's consumer inflation hit a five-year low and factory deflation deepened. The Chinese PPI declined more-than-expected by -4.3% in January. CPI for January came in at +0.8%, lower than the estimated +1.1% further slowing compared to +1.5% in December. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is trading -0.71% at 24,355.16 points. China's Shanghai Composite closed at 3,158.27 points +0.52%. Markets await data on money supply and social financing due today at no fixed time.

Japanese markets are closed today for a public holiday. Yesterday Japan's Nikkei lost, closing -0.36% with a final quote of 17,652.68 points reversing some of its early losses. Concerns over Greece's bailout and its consequences for the whole Eurozone weighed on the index.