Wall Street hits records for second straight day over Trump tax cut talk
Wall Street hit records highs for a second day and the dollar rose on hopes of business-friendly tax cuts, as upbeat Chinese trade data buoyed commodity-related shares in Asia and Europe.
The equities boost continued a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said that in coming weeks he would announce something “phenomenal” in terms of tax, although he offered no further details.
Renewed speculation that Trump’s policies will help boost economic growth and inflation pushed U.S. Treasury yields higher and lifted the dollar, which hit an 11-day high against a basket of six major currencies.
The greenback also rose on expectations of a constructive meeting later on Friday between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Strong Chinese trade numbers on Friday added to a sense that inflationary pressures could be stirring.
China stocks posted their biggest weekly gains in more than two months, led by infrastructure and material shares on new pledges for transport and infrastructure building.
China’s President Xi Jinping also had a cordial telephone conversation with Trump, in which Trump affirmed the one-China policy on Taiwan.
Both the blue-chip CSI300 index and the Shanghai Composite Index were about 0.5 percent higher.
“We’ve had Trump’s comments on tax reform, the phone call with China and quite decent China trade data, so there is a risk-on mood again in markets,” DZ Bank rates strategist Rene Albrecht said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65.34 points, or 0.32 percent, to 20,237.74, the S&P 500 gained 5.23 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,313.1 and the Nasdaq Composite added 12.84 points, or 0.22 percent, to 5,728.02.
Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note yields rose to a session high of 2.43 percent after the release of the imports data, which showed prices increased 0.4 percent in January.
European shares were off the day’s peaks, weighed down by banking shares. They are still poised to close the week about 1 percent higher.
