Stocks climb with U.S. futures

Stocks in Europe and Asia gained along with American equity-index futures as investors weighed more signs of economies reopening around the world against the rise in U.S.-China tensions. The dollar was steady, and crude oil added to last week’s strong advance.

U.S. markets are closed Monday for Memorial Day holiday while the U.K. is shut for the spring bank holiday.

Construction and industrial-goods shares led a broad advance in the Euro Stoxx Index. Bayer AG leaped almost 8% after Bloomberg reported it reached agreements to resolve some cancer lawsuits over its Roundup weedkiller. Contracts on all three major U.S. gauges rose more than 1%. In Asia, Hong Kong shares inched higher after Friday’s slump, following police clashes with protesters marching against China’s move to crack down on dissent. Benchmarks in Tokyo and Sydney led advances in the region’s stocks.

Volumes were light with the holidays in the U.S. and U.K., as well as some Asian markets including Singapore. Futures on the 10-year note were little changed. China set its daily yuan reference rate at the weakest level since 2008 after the increasing acrimony drove the currency to a seven-month low on Friday. A benchmark of emerging-market stocks headed for its first rise in three sessions.

Although fresh turmoil in Hong Kong is threatening to damage an already souring Sino-U.S. relationship, investors are looking to the reopening of economies from Japan to Australia and the U.S. to provide impetus to global stock markets, which remain about 30% higher than the March lows. A rise in a gauge of German business expectations provided another glimmer of hope for equity bulls.