{"id":61455,"date":"2026-04-30T12:38:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-rally-as-us-growth-outlook-surges-and-energy-demand-hits-multi-month-high\/61455\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T12:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:38:25","slug":"global-markets-rally-as-us-growth-outlook-surges-and-energy-demand-hits-multi-month-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-rally-as-us-growth-outlook-surges-and-energy-demand-hits-multi-month-high\/61455\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Markets Rally as US Growth Outlook Surges and Energy Demand Hits Multi-Month High"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>US GDPNow Q2 growth estimate debuts at a robust 3.70%<\/strong>, signaling continued economic resilience despite high interest rates.<\/li>\n<li><strong>US oil demand reached a peak in February<\/strong>, hitting its highest level since August 2025 as cold weather and trucking activity drove consumption.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mortgage rates climbed again<\/strong>, with the 30-year fixed rate rising to <strong>6.30%<\/strong>, adding pressure to the spring housing market.<\/li>\n<li><strong>European markets posted strong gains<\/strong>, led by Britain\u2019s <strong>FTSE 100 (+1.55%)<\/strong> and Germany\u2019s <strong>DAX (+1.33%)<\/strong> following central bank commentary.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Geopolitical tensions intensified<\/strong> as the US delivered <strong>6,500 tons of military equipment<\/strong> to Israel within 24 hours amid ongoing regional conflicts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The US economy is showing unexpected strength at the start of the second quarter, with the <strong>Atlanta Fed\u2019s GDPNow<\/strong> model providing an initial estimate of <strong>3.70%<\/strong> for Q2 growth. This optimistic outlook comes as the SPDR <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/sp500\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a> ETF Trust (<a href=\"\/stock\/SPY\">SPY<\/a>) and broader markets react to a &quot;sensible&quot; market response to central bank policy, according to Bank of England Governor <strong>Andrew Bailey<\/strong>. Bailey\u2019s comments followed the BoE\u2019s decision to hold rates at <strong>3.75%<\/strong> in an 8-1 vote, suggesting that while inflation risks remain due to Middle East volatility, the current restrictive stance is appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>In the energy sector, the <strong>Energy Information Administration (EIA)<\/strong> reported that US demand for <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/energy\/crude-oil\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"12\" title=\"Crude oil\">crude oil<\/a> and petroleum products surged in February to its highest level in six months. This spike was largely driven by extreme cold in the Northeast and a significant increase in trucking demand. Meanwhile, internal friction within <strong>OPEC<\/strong> is mounting as the <strong>UAE<\/strong> reportedly acts as a counterweight to <strong>Saudi Arabia<\/strong>, pushing to raise output to monetize new capacity while the Kingdom seeks to maintain production cuts to support prices.<\/p>\n<p>The housing market continues to face headwinds as <strong>Freddie Mac<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/FMCC\">FMCC<\/a>) reported that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to <strong>6.30%<\/strong> for the week ending April 30, up from <strong>6.23%<\/strong> the previous week. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also saw an uptick to <strong>5.64%<\/strong>. Despite the rise, economists noted that purchase demand has remained surprisingly resilient, with applications still trending significantly higher than last year\u2019s levels.<\/p>\n<p>Geopolitical developments remain a critical focus for investors as the <strong>US Defense Department<\/strong> completed a massive logistics operation, delivering <strong>6,500 tons of munitions and equipment<\/strong> to Israel in a single day. This comes as <strong>Lebanon\u2019s Information Minister<\/strong> clarified that the country has not yet entered direct negotiations with Israel, remaining instead in a &quot;preparatory&quot; phase. Simultaneously, the <strong>UAE Attorney-General<\/strong> has referred 13 defendants and six companies to the State Security Court for allegedly attempting to ship military materials to <strong>Sudan<\/strong>, highlighting the UAE&#39;s strict stance against illicit arms trafficking.<\/p>\n<p>Global equity markets reflected a risk-on sentiment today, with major European indices closing sharply higher. France\u2019s <strong>CAC 40<\/strong> rose <strong>0.45%<\/strong> and Spain\u2019s <strong>IBEX<\/strong> gained <strong>0.72%<\/strong>, while the <strong>FTSE 100<\/strong> and <strong>DAX<\/strong> outperformed. Investors appear to be balancing the strong US growth data against persistent geopolitical risks and the &quot;active hold&quot; strategy currently favored by global central banks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways US GDPNow Q2 growth estimate debuts at a robust 3.70%, signaling continued economic resilience despite high interest rates. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[4824,5426,5670,5745,6797,7213,10631],"class_list":["post-61455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-geopolitics","tag-opec","tag-eia","tag-oilprices","tag-gdpnow","tag-stockmarket","tag-mortgagerates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}