By Dhara Ranasinghe and Koh Gui Qing
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -The U.S. S&P 500 zoomed past 6,000 points on Friday to a new record while Treasury yields retreated, as investors again cheered Donald Trump’s decisive victory, although disappointment about China’s latest fiscal support dampened the mood elsewhere.
A day after the Federal Reserve delivered a quarter-point rate cut, as anticipated, the focus returned to the fallout of Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election and headlines out of Beijing.
The offshore yuan weakened, while U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms and China exposed-sectors in Europe sank as investors took in news that China’s stimulus did not directly inject money into the struggling economy.
But investors on Wall Street shrugged off frustration about the lack of a Chinese fiscal bazooka and bought U.S. stocks. The S&P 500 index climbed to an intra-day high of 6,012.45 points before pulling back to finish up 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite ended flat%.
The S&P 500 and the Dow had their best week in a year, while the Nasdaq had its best week in two months. [.N]
Shares of electric car maker Tesla, whose chief executive, Elon Musk, became one of Trump’s biggest supporters in the last leg of his reelection campaign, shot up 8.2%, catapulting its market capitalization to $1 trillion for the first time since 2022.
Nicholas Colas, a co-founder of DataTrek Research LLC, said there are several reasons for buying U.S. stocks: “The Fed is cutting rates, and the U.S. economy is still strong.”
In addition, the Republican party won not only the White House this week, but also control of the Senate, and may win control of the House of Representatives – a similar scenario, Colas said, to the November 2016 election outcome that preceded the S&P 500’s 22% gain in 2017.Investors are betting that a Trump administration will bring lighter regulation and tax cuts that could boost the U.S. economy.
Outside the United States the mood was more subdued. The pan-European STOXX 600 lost 0.7%, while a MSCI index for world stocks was flat after hitting a record high on Friday. Still, the index for world stocks had its best week in three months.
“What you are going to get because of the clean sweep is a mandate to improve the U.S. economy. So, taxes will come down, bureaucracy will ease and regulation will become lighter,” said Guy Miller, chief markets strategist at Zurich Insurance Group.
“Between now and year-end, there is a tailwind for U.S. stocks. The U.S. market has potential,” he said.
Germany’s DAX stock index fell 0.8% a day after posting its best daily performance of 2024 so far, helped by expectations that Germany could scrap its debt brake.
CHINA DISAPPOINTS
China unveiled a 10 trillion yuan ($1.40 trillion) debt package to ease local government financing strains and stabilize flagging economic growth.
Finance Minister Lan Fo’an said more stimulus was coming, with some analysts saying Beijing may not want to fire all its financial weapons before Trump takes over officially in January.
Mainland blue chips fell 1%, a day after rising 3%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also slid in a sign of some caution ahead of the announcement.
The offshore Chinese yuan fell 0.7% to 7.2011 per dollar. China-exposed European luxury and mining stocks each fell over 3%.
FED CUTS
U.S. Treasury yields fell after Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday signaled continued, patient policy easing.
The Fed’s rate cut followed a quarter-point cut from the Bank of England and a large half-point cut by Sweden, also on Thursday.
Ten-year Treasury yields fell 8.3 basis points to 4.343%, reversing sharp rises following the U.S. election result.
Powell said Tuesday’s election result would have no “near-term” impact on U.S. monetary policy.
“The Fed pointed to a more uncertain economic outlook and inflation remaining elevated,” said Mahmood Pradhan, head of global macroeconomics at the Amundi Investment Institute.
“Together with a likely change in policy direction under the new administration, we expect a more uncertain and measured pace of easing next year.”
The dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers, rose to 104.91, following a 0.7% drop on Thursday, its biggest since Aug. 23. On Wednesday, it soared 1.53%, the most in over two years, a sign of increased volatility as investors assess the new Trump administration’s policies.
The euro and sterling both fell against the dollar, while the dollar slipped 0.3% to 152.46 yen.
Bitcoin was up 0.8% after hitting a record high, following a nearly 10% surge this week. Trump has vowed to make the United States “the crypto capital of the planet.”
After a roller-coaster week, gold fell 0.9% to $2,683.87. It slumped more than 3% on Wednesday, but bounced 1.8% overnight. Last week it surged to an all-time high of $2,790.15.
Brent crude oil futures pared losses during London trade and were last down 2.1% at $74.01, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.6% to $70.45. [O/R]
(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe in London and Kevin Buckland in Tokyo; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Philippa Fletcher, Richard Chang, Leslie Adler and Sandra Maler)
