Global stocks lower after Trump offers scant policy details
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Global stocks mostly fell Thursday after President-elect Donald Trump offered scant details on policies during his news conference. Investors had been hoping for a clearer sense of his plans for trade and economic stimulus.
KEEPING SCORE: Germany’s DAX was down 0.6 per cent at 11,582 while France’s CAC 40 shed 0.1 per cent to 4,882 despite official figures showing eurozone industrial production jumped 1.5 per cent in November. Britain’s FTSE 100 was flat at to 7,292. U.S. shares were also set to drift lower, with Dow and S&P futures both down 0.2 per cent.
TRUMP NEWS: Trump’s first news conference in nearly six months provided few details on his plans for infrastructure spending and tax reforms. Trump attacked U.S. intelligence services and big pharmaceutical companies, instead of outlining his platform.
THE QUOTE: “It is what he didn’t mention – fiscal stimulus — that worries market participants. The U.S. dollar rally was based on the assumption that Trump’s administration will push through a massive infrastructure building and fiscal stimulus package, which will lead to higher inflation in the future,” said Margaret Yang Yan, a market analyst with CMC Markets in Singapore. “The slump in the U.S. dollar index last night indicated that assumption is now unwinding because the president-elect never even mentioned that key word ‘stimulus’.”