US and European stocks hit new record highs


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The US S&P 500 powered to a new record-high on Wednesday after bumper Netflix results added fuel to a rally driven by US President Donald Trump’s flurry of “America First” policy announcements. .

The US large-cap blue-chip index stocks rose as much as 0.8 percent by midday in New York, pushing past the previous intraday high in early December, to hit 6,100 for the first time.

The S&P 500 last week posted its best five-session gain since Trump’s election victory.

Netflix, whose fourth-quarter earnings posted overnight blew past analysts’ forecasts, gained 10.4 percent, dragging other technology stocks higher. Oracle jumped 7.2 percent and Microsoft added 4 percent after they joined other tech titans, including OpenAI, in announcing plans for a new artificial intelligence project in the US.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 1.5 percent to within striking distance of its mid-December intraday high.

Wednesday’s gains come as Trump used his first three days in office to threaten new tariffs against US allies while vowing to end an era of American “decline”.

Expected cuts in corporate tax rates and financial deregulation boosted investor optimism a week after some of the countries’ biggest banks reported higher profits on a recovery in dealmaking and trading.

The Stoxx Europe 600 also hit a record high on Wednesday as fears of US tariffs eased and investors bought cheaper European stocks after strong corporate earnings.

The broad-based European index rose as much as 0.9 percent to a record high of 530.55, boosted by gains for some major European companies such as Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk and Germany’s Adidas.

It closed up 0.4 percent after shedding some of its gains.

The Dax in Frankfurt added 1 percent – after also reaching a new high – led by a 6 percent gain for Adidas after strong results throughout the year.

Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management, said a “risk-on environment (is) lifting all boats, especially the most vulnerable”, helped by other factors including concerns about US tariffs that are minimal.

Despite repeated threats, Trump has yet to impose new tariffs on US exports from the bloc.

“There is some comfort in seeing that Trump is softer than the market thought,” said Emmanuel Cau, an analyst at Barclays.

“The (European) market is no longer afraid of Trump because he gives the impression that he is trying to negotiate,” he said.

Line chart of Points showing the Stoxx Europe 600 index hitting a record high

London’s FTSE 100 also set a new intraday record before returning lower, closing flat.

The highs came after a Bank of America survey of European fund managers this week showed investors increased their allocations to European equities as fears grew of high valuations on Wall Street.

Only 19 percent of fund managers were “overweight” U.S. stocks in January, down from a record 36 percent the previous month. The shift was the biggest rotation from US stocks to Eurozone stocks in nearly a decade, the bank said.

Trump also said Tuesday that his administration is discussing imposing a 10 percent duty on Chinese imports as early as next month. He revealed on Monday that he will implement the tariffs on 25 percent against Mexico and Canada on February 1.



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