NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Wall Street stocks pushed to fresh highs for the fifth day in a row Wednesday, giving a boost to most international equity markets on continued optimism about US economic prospects.
US stocks have been on a tear since last week when President Donald Trump vowed to release details of his promised tax cut plan within two to three weeks.
On Wednesday, Trump reiterated that he would soon release specifics on the plan. Sentiment was further lifted by a hopeful outlook from US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and solid US data on retail sales and consumer spending.
All of these things lended confidence to the view that the Fed would soon raise interest rates, a positive for financial stocks.
Besides New York, equity markets rose in London, Frankfurt, Paris and Tokyo, which gained 1.0 percent.
Market “bullishness stems from hawkish testimony by Janet Yellen… giving a fillip to a key financial sector whose profitability benefits from higher interest rates”, said Accendo Markets analyst Mike van Dulken.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich said, “It feels like investors might get the pro-growth part of the platform.”
He added that mounting questions about Trump’s connections to Russia so far are not rattling investors.
Among individual stocks Procter & Gamble jumped 3.7 percent on news that activist investor Trian Fund Management led by Nelson Peltz holds 6.4 million shares worth $575 million in the consumer products giant, according to a securities filing.
Some news reports said Trian has added to the stake since the filing deadline and now holds more than $3 billion in shares. Trian is known for pushing companies to reorganize businesses and return funds to shareholders.
Shares in troubled conglomerate Toshiba plunged almost nine percent — extending Tuesday’s eight percent decline — after warning it faced a 390 billion yen ($3.4 billion) loss in the fiscal year to March, hit by a 700 billion yen writedown at its US nuclear unit Westinghouse.
The news prompted its chairman to resign while it also hinted at another accounting scandal following a profit-padding crisis in 2015.
– Key figures around 2200 GMT –
New York – Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 20,611.86 (close)
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 2,349.25 (close)
New York – Nasdaq: UP 0.6 percent at 5,819.44 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 7,302.41 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX 30: UP 0.2 percent at 11,793.93 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.6 percent at 4,924.86 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.6 percent at 3,327.44 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.0 percent at 19,437.98 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng: UP 1.2 percent at 23,994.87 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,212.99 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0602 from $1.0576
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2459 from $1.2466
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 114.18 yen from 114.27 yen
Oil – Brent North Sea: DOWN 22 cents at $55.75 per barrel
Oil – West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 9 cents at $53.11
© Agence France-Presse
