European Stock Markets
Signs of progress with U.S. tax cuts and Europe’s Brexit negotiations
brought fresh highs for world stocks on Wednesday, while bitcoin topped
$10,000 in a frenzy for cryptocurrencies.
Britain's pound was also in focus, topping $1.34 GBP= for the first time since October on reports that Britain has offered as much as 50 billion euros - most of what the European Union wants - to settle a Brexit "divorce bill".
Sterling's strength did push London's FTSE .FTSE into the red, but elsewhere the mood was almost exclusively upbeat, particularly in bank stocks after the soon-to-be head of the Federal Reserve said some regulations could be scaled back.
Germany’s DAX, France’s CAC, Milan and Madrid were all up between 0.5 and 0.7 percent and MSCI’s all-country world index .MIWD00000PUS was at yet another record peak after all four major Wall Street indexes notched up new highs on Tuesday.
Asian share markets were not quite as jubilant, checked by caution over the latest missile test by North Korea and concerns at recent softness in Chinese shares.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS barely budged from where it started the day, while China's blue chip index .CSI300 ended flat having slipped as much as 1 percent at one point. [.SS]
Among the better performers, Japan's Nikkei .N225 added 0.5 percent, while Australia's main index rose 0.45 percent.
The prospects for a U.S. tax cut seemed to improve after Senate Republicans rammed forward their bill in a partisan committee vote that set up a full vote by the Senate as soon as Thursday, although details of the measure remained unsettled.
But Republican leaders conceded that they have yet to round up the votes needed for passage in the Senate, where they hold a narrow 52-48 majority.
Some analysts, however, did warn of the risks of unintended consequences if the package was passed.
Fed chair nominee Jerome Powell, in his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, said the case for a December rate hike was coming together.
Britain's pound was also in focus, topping $1.34 GBP= for the first time since October on reports that Britain has offered as much as 50 billion euros - most of what the European Union wants - to settle a Brexit "divorce bill".
Sterling's strength did push London's FTSE .FTSE into the red, but elsewhere the mood was almost exclusively upbeat, particularly in bank stocks after the soon-to-be head of the Federal Reserve said some regulations could be scaled back.
Germany’s DAX, France’s CAC, Milan and Madrid were all up between 0.5 and 0.7 percent and MSCI’s all-country world index .MIWD00000PUS was at yet another record peak after all four major Wall Street indexes notched up new highs on Tuesday.
Asian share markets were not quite as jubilant, checked by caution over the latest missile test by North Korea and concerns at recent softness in Chinese shares.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS barely budged from where it started the day, while China's blue chip index .CSI300 ended flat having slipped as much as 1 percent at one point. [.SS]
Among the better performers, Japan's Nikkei .N225 added 0.5 percent, while Australia's main index rose 0.45 percent.
The prospects for a U.S. tax cut seemed to improve after Senate Republicans rammed forward their bill in a partisan committee vote that set up a full vote by the Senate as soon as Thursday, although details of the measure remained unsettled.
But Republican leaders conceded that they have yet to round up the votes needed for passage in the Senate, where they hold a narrow 52-48 majority.
Some analysts, however, did warn of the risks of unintended consequences if the package was passed.
Fed chair nominee Jerome Powell, in his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, said the case for a December rate hike was coming together.
No comments:
Post a Comment