Global Stocks: Wall Street ends 4-day skid, Chinese stocks rally

U.S. stocks rose moderately on Friday ending a four-day skid unimpressed by Fed Chair Janet Yellen's comments at a monetary policy conference in San Francisco. FED chair Janet Yellen reiterated that the bank is going to hike rates gradually later this year although developments in the economy might have an impact on the timing. The S&P 500 closed +0.24% with a final quote of 2,061.02 points. The DOW JONES index added +0.19%, closing at 17,712.66 points. Today Personal Income, Personal Spending, Pending Home Sales and a speech of FED Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer will be in the focus.

Chinese stocks skyrocketed after authorities allowed mainland funds into the exchange link to invest in Hong Kong and on speculations on further stimulus by the People's Bank of China. PBoC governor Zhou said on Sunday that the bank has still room to react - with interest rates and quantitative measures. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallies ad is currently trading +1.83% at 24,935.36 points. China's Shanghai Composite rose to 3,781.02 points closing +2.44%.

The Nikkei booked gains on Monday in choppy trade and closed +0.65% with a final quote of 19,411.40 points with energy shares down on falling oil prices. Data on Industrial Production was lower-than-expected and shrank -3.4% in February, compared to a reading of +3.7% in January. Year on year Industrial Production came in at -2.6% compared to -2.8%.