Global stocks rise as Europe wrestles with gas shortages

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets and Wall Street futures rose Tuesday as Liz Truss prepared to become British prime minister and Europe wrestled with uncertainty about Russian gas supplies.

London and Frankfurt opened higher. Shanghai and Tokyo gained. Benchmark U.S. crude rose more than $2 per barrel. The euro edged higher against the dollar.

European markets were jolted by Friday's announcement that the suspension of Russian gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would be extended indefinitely. Shortages have pushed up prices and weigh on economic growth.

Truss “will have to hit the ground running as the U.K. prepares for a brutal winter," Craig Erlam of Oanda said in a report. Noting news reports that Truss plans to freeze energy bills, Erlam said “the question is what impact it will have on inflation and gas demand.”

In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.3% to 7,307.22 and Frankfurt's DAX advanced 0.4% to 12,816.01. The CAC 40 in France gained 0.2% to 6,103.77.

On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.5% as U.S. markets prepared to reopen after a three-day holiday weekend.

On Friday, the S&P and the Dow both lost 1.1% after government data showed U.S. hiring slowed in August but wages rose. Forecasters said the Federal Reserve might see that as evidence more rate hikes are needed to cool inflation that is at a multi-decade high.

Investors worry repeated rate hikes by the Fed and central banks in Asia and Europe to control surging inflation might derail global economic growth. Central banks say they must slow business and consumer activity to get prices under control.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.4% to 3,243.44 after the government promised Monday to accelerate easier...