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Stocks consistent, Treasury yields up as financiers eye Trump's next move

Worldwide stocks steadied on Thursday, as a rally fuelled by Donald Trump's. spending prepare for artificial intelligence facilities. fizzled and care set in over what the new U.S. president's. next proceed trade may be.

Weekly data showed the variety of Americans filing for. welfare increased a little more than anticipated in the. most recent week, which dented the dollar and lifted stocks as. it revealed the labor market is strong.

The dominant factor for markets is what Trump plans to do. about imposing tariffs. With no brand-new information, the uncertainty. weighed on equity markets while Treasury yields rose for a. second day, as bond financiers braced for an ultimate imposition. of tariffs that may stir inflation.

President Trump's policies are producing the perfect storm. of inflationary pressures, said Nigel Green, CEO of deVere. Group, a financial advisory firm, including that another accumulation in. price pressures could trigger the Federal Reserve to raise. rate of interest.

The Fed might have no choice however to act. This might activate. substantial market volatility, Green said.

The MSCI index for international stocks was flat,. while U.S. stocks were blended. The S&P 500 edged up 0.1%,. the Dow Jones Industrial Average included 0.4% and the. Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.2%.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield << US10YT= RR > > climbed up 5.7. basis points to 4.6558%, below recently's 14-month high of. 4.809%.

Clearly, it's early days ... We have seen no surprises. ( from Trump) so far, stated Guy Miller, chief markets strategist. at Zurich Insurance Group.

If anything, some restraint was shown. So, that has actually allowed. the monetary markets to reprice to some level, allowing bond. yields to come back in again and risk assets to move higher, he. said.

In Europe, the STOXX 600, which hit a record high. on Wednesday, edged up 0.3%, as some selling pressure abated on. technology shares, which had skyrocketed after Trump. announced a $500-billion private-sector AI facilities. financial investment strategy.

The joint venture, which includes Oracle, OpenAI. and SoftBank, at first turbo-charged a rally in international. stock exchange, which drew even more support from positive profits.

On Asian markets overnight, Japan's Nikkei gained. 0.8%. Shares in SoftBank leapt 5%.

In China, the federal government revealed plans to transport hundreds. of billions of yuan of investment from state-owned insurance providers into. shares, simply after Trump said he was proposing to slap a 10%. punitive task on Chinese imports.

The CSI300 blue-chip index ended the day up 0.18%,. while the yuan deteriorated versus the dollar to 7.289 in offshore. trading.

TARIFF HAZARDS

Action in currency markets was mainly subdued after a. unstable few sessions because Trump's return to the White Home,. driven by his declarations on tariffs early in the week.

Trump has said he prepares to impose responsibilities on imports from. Mexico and Canada from Feb. 1 and has actually said he will use tariffs. on imports from the European Union.

In the lack of any more specifics, the dollar struggled. to press higher and Thursday's information fed into the idea amongst. traders that the Federal Reserve might have more space to lower. rates this year.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the currency. against six others, suffered near a two-week low of 108.31.

The euro was steady at $1.0398, as was sterling. at $1.232.

The risk of tariffs continues to hang over markets, but. the rapidly decreasing half life of headlines reveals you the. market is already numb to the shenanigans, said Brent Donnelly,. president at Spectra Markets.

Ahead of the Bank of Japan's policy choice on Friday, the. dollar rose to a one-week high against the yen at. 156.19. Markets have already fully priced in a 25-basis-point. rate hike at the conclusion of the conference.

Oil rates remained below $80 a barrel, under pressure from. concern over how Trump's proposed tariffs might affect global. economic development and need for energy.

Brent unrefined futures were last down 0.6% on the day. at $78.49 a barrel after Trump said he will be asking Saudi. Arabia and the OPEC to lower the cost of oil.

(source: Reuters)