Markets mixed, “steady-ish” US growth could keep stocks rallying

Markets were mixed on Monday.

Asian stocks mostly rose, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.7 percent and the Nikkei 225 up 0.2 percent.

However, the STOXX Europe 600 dipped 0.1 percent.

The US stock market was closed for a holiday.

Meanwhile, Michael Gapen, head of US economics research at Barclays, said that the US stock market rally is likely to continue.

“We’re kind of sitting at a trend-like outlook where growth is around 2% this year,” he said. “Our steady-ish as she goes trend-like outlook would be consistent, with say, equity market performance of around 8% to 9% this year given where we expect earnings growth to be.”