By Lawrence Delevingne and Dhara Ranasinghe
Boston/London (Reuters) – Global markets were boosted on Thursday as investors bet on a friendly U.S. regulatory shift, while world stocks touched fresh record highs with sentiment bolstered by upbeat comments on the economy from Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.09% to 6,091, the S&P 500 rose 0.09% to 14,138, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.19% to 19,772. The move followed Powell’s comments that the economy was stronger than it had appeared in September, allowing policymakers to potentially be a little more cautious in reducing rates further.
Bitcoin also had a strong day, breaking the $100,000 mark and trading around 3% higher at $101,000. The surge came as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he would nominate Paul Atkins, a pro-crypto and pro-deregulation, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Sentiment was also boosted by a fall in U.S. Treasury yields and robust U.S. data. However, some analysts warned that there is a risk to the euphoria, with concerns about potential inflationary impacts of Trump’s economic plans.
In Europe, the euro, French stocks, and bonds were largely stable after France’s government lost a confidence vote, with the far-right and leftist lawmakers joining forces to topple Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government. The risk premium investors demand to hold French debt over German Bunds dropped to its lowest level in over 12 years.
Oil prices were steady on Thursday, as investors weighed the outlook for a supply glut in 2025 against OPEC+ delaying its planned output increase to April 2025.