SHANGHAI, Mar 2 (SMM) — This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last night and what is expected today.

The dollar index rose to a three-week high on Monday as investors bet on faster growth and inflation in the United States, while the Australian dollar gained after Australia's central bank bought more bonds than expected in a bid to stem rapidly rising yields.

The dollar has gained in the past few sessions along with U.S. government bond yields on expectations that growth and inflation will increase as the administration prepares new fiscal stimulus, and as vaccinations against COVID-19 become more widespread.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields rose to 1.432% on Monday, but are holding below the one-year high of 1.614% reached on Thursday.

The dollar is benefiting “on the yield differential, on the growth expectation differentials,” compared with other countries, said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management in New York.

On Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes rose in extended trading Monday evening after the S&P 500 rallied more than 2% during regular trading hours for its best day since June.

Dow futures added 25 points while contracts tied to the S&P 500 rose 0.1%. Nasdaq 100 futures outperformed with a gain of nearly 0.3%.

US equities began March on a strong note on Monday with the S&P 500 up 2.38%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 1.95% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumping just over 3% after shedding 4.9% last week.

All 11 S&P sectors finished in the green and the S&P 500 posted its best day since June 5. Both the Dow and the Nasdaq clinched their best trading day since November.

Economically sensitive, cyclical sectors like energy and financials continued to outperform the broader market amid optimism about vaccines and economic resurgence. Meanwhile, a pause in the market for U.S. debt allowed high-growth tech names to recoup a sizable portion of their recent losses.

Oil prices were up on Monday as fears that Chinese oil crude consumption is slowing overshadowed rising optimism about COVID-19 vaccinations and a U.S. economic stimulus package increasing fuel demand.

Brent crude fell 81 cents, or 1.3%, to trade at $63.61 per barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 97 cents, or 1.58%, to trade at $60.53 per barrel.

Both contracts finished February 18% higher.

China’s factory activity growth slipped to a nine-month low in February, sounding alarms over Chinese crude buying and pressuring oil prices.

“One negative is more and more talk about Chinese oil demand maybe faltering, that they bought all the oil that they’re going to need for a while,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “There’s some talk that their strategic reserves are filled up, and so some people are betting against the Chinese continuing to drive oil prices.”

Gold prices gave up gains of 1% on Monday as a stronger dollar and increased risk appetite among investors eclipsed support from a retreat in U.S. Treasury yields.

Spot gold was down 0.6% at $1,723.30 an ounce by 02:02 p.m. ET (1902 GMT) and U.S. gold futures settled 0.3% down at $1,723.

“Vision of economic recovery, the dollar rebounding off recent lows, equity markets doing well ... in this environment there’s been a bit of a lesser demand for gold,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.

“But on the other side of that coin, we are seeing an additional $1.9 trillion stimulus being injected into the economy and we could potentially see an inflationary environment down the road, in which gold has a tendency to fare quite well.”

Germany actual retail sales monthly rate in January, Germany seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in February and preliminary seasonally-unadjusted CPI annual rate in Euro zone in February will be released today.