London — Strong Chinese data on Thursday kept world stocks hovering near record highs, as bond markets pushed US treasury yields — the benchmark for global borrowing costs — to a 10-month high. Underlining the momentum of the world economic expansion into the latter part of 2017, both Chinese fourth-quarter growth of 6.8% and December industrial output growth of 6.2% were ahead of expectations. Most Asian bourses were closing when the data landed but had briefly set a new record after the US blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial index had closed above 26,000 points for the first time. China’s yuan finished at its highest since December 2015. Europe’s main FTSE, DAX 30 and CAC 40 stock markets then ticked higher though moves were choppy in the cross currents of rising euro and bond yields. The 10-year US treasury yield hit its highest since March 2017 at 2.60%, which then pushed the European counterparts higher. Germany’s 10-year bond yield, the benchmark for the region, was near a five-and...
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