Trump's Bold Policies Ignite Stock Gains, Dollar Falters on Trade Worries

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Global stocks climbed on Wednesday, driven by new policy announcements from U.S. President Donald Trump and strong corporate earnings that boosted investor confidence. However, concerns about tariffs kept the dollar near its lowest point in two weeks.

Netflix shares surged 14% in after-hours trading after the streaming giant reported record-breaking subscriber growth last quarter, enabling it to implement price increases in the U.S. and other countries. This contributed to a 0.5% rise in Nasdaq futures in Asia, with S&P 500 futures also edging up 0.2%.

On Tuesday evening, Trump revealed a $500 billion joint venture called Stargate, involving OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, aimed at developing artificial intelligence infrastructure. Following the announcement, SoftBank shares surged 9% in Tokyo, while Oracle shares gained 7% overnight.

Investor sentiment was also buoyed by relief that Trump refrained from a broad tariff expansion at the start of his second term, despite signaling potential tariffs on European Union goods and a 10% levy on Chinese imports starting February 1. 

"We're seeing a pricing out of extreme scenarios," said Hoe Lon Leng, global head of FX flow and EM rates linear trading at Nomura, adding that Trump appears more focused on achieving favorable outcomes, influenced by factors like rising oil prices and bond yields.

Japan's Nikkei rose 1.4%, reflecting gains on Wall Street. Elsewhere in Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1%, with losses in Chinese markets offset by gains in Taiwan and South Korea. Chinese blue-chip stocks dropped 1.2%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.5%.

The easing of tariff concerns contributed to a slight pullback in U.S. Treasury yields, with the 10-year yield rising 2 basis points in Asia to 4.595%. Despite recent fluctuations, yields remain elevated, reflecting economic strength and reduced expectations for major Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.

The U.S. dollar slipped 0.1% against major currencies to 108.08, hovering near a two-week low. Meanwhile, the euro eased 0.2% to $1.0412, and the Canadian dollar recovered most of its recent losses, trading at 1.4332 per U.S. dollar.

Bitcoin remained near its record high of $105,701 after a 4% rally, bolstered by news that the top U.S. market regulator is forming a task force to develop a cryptocurrency regulatory framework. "Bitcoin reaching $120,000 is a plausible scenario," said Billy Leung, investment strategist at Global X.

Oil prices held steady after a 2% decline overnight, with Brent crude at $79.29 per barrel and U.S. crude at $75.88 per barrel. Gold prices also resumed their climb, rising 0.1% to $2,747.04 per ounce, following a 1.4% surge the previous day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paraphrasing text from "Reuters" all rights reserved by the original author.