Latest news with #BondYields
Bloomberg
27-05-2025
- Automotive
- Bloomberg
European Stocks Retreat on Yield Worries; Renewable Energy Drops
European stocks fell on Thursday as worries over rising bond yields curbed investor appetite for risky assets. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.6% by the close, following steep declines Wednesday across US markets after a disappointing Treasury auction sent yields surging. Consumer products and autos were the biggest laggards, while the personal care and chemical sectors outperformed.
Reuters
23-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
European stocks set for sixth consecutive week of gains
May 23 (Reuters) - European stocks rose on Friday as retreating bond yields offered some relief to investors, with brighter-than-expected economic data also aiding sentiment. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX), opens new tab rose 0.3% by 0721 GMT, on course for its sixth straight week of gains. The UK's blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE), opens new tab rose 0.4% after data showed British retail sales jumped more than expected in April. In another positive sign, the German economy grew significantly more in the first quarter than previously estimated due to good economic developments in March, data showed. The German DAX (.GDAXI), opens new tab, also up 0.4%, was trading just below all-time highs. Stock markets succumbed to some selling pressure this week as Treasury yields soared on concerns about ballooning U.S. debt, while May business activity surveys painted a gloomy picture of the euro zone economy. However, the benchmark 10-year U.S. and European government bond yields eased on Friday. , Among single stocks, British investment platform AJ Bell (AJBA.L), opens new tab jumped 9.8% after it posted a 12% year-over-year rise in half-yearly profit before tax, benefitting from increased client activity. Michelin ( opens new tab rose 0.9% after Jefferies upgraded the French tyre maker to "buy," citing growth potential in earnings.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stock market today: Dow sheds 800 points, S&P 500, Nasdaq slide as Treasury yields surge, bitcoin hits record
US stocks stumbled Wednesday as bond yields continued to climb, putting pressure on equities as Wall Street fretted about the ballooning US debt while Republican leaders aimed to ready President Trump's tax bill for a House vote. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell more than 1.9%, or about 800 points. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) slid about 1.6%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell roughly 1.4%. All three major indexes moved lower after a 1 p.m. 20-year bond auction saw weak demand, and Treasury yields surged. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) added 11 basis points to hit 4.59%, while the 30-year Treasury yield (^TYX) added 12 basis points to 5.09%, hovering near its highest level since 2023. Meanwhile, bitcoin (BTC-USD) rallied to a fresh record of over $109,000 earlier in the session before reversing with the broader market. Markets are reassessing a recent rally, with the S&P 500 snapping a six-day run of gains as relief over the surprise US-China trade truce faded. Meanwhile, growing concern about the US deficit and ballooning debt has intensified attention on discussions around Trump's tax-and-spending bill. Wall Street is keeping a close eye on Trump's giant tax bill, as Republicans try to appease all factions of their splintered caucus. Anxieties about the budget bill and the US debt have helped push up US bond yields. Meanwhile, the US and China have begun feuding over chips again, less than two weeks after agreeing to a temporary pause in tariff hostilities. The Trump administration's warnings against using AI chips by Huawei have undermined the recent trade talks in Geneva, China said, putting the fragile trade deal at risk and reviving worries about economic fallout. Read more: The latest on Trump's tariffs Tariffs were in focus for Target's first quarter results, after Trump told retailers they need to "eat" the costs of duties and not pass them on to customers. The discount retailer missed badly on quarterly earnings and cut its full-year outlook, but its top executives repeatedly declined to say whether Target will follow Walmart (WMT) in passing on costs of tariffs via price hikes. Currency concerns also have alarm bells ringing as the US dollar fell to a two-week low, with traders eyeing the ongoing G-7 meeting for signs the Trump administration may favor a weaker currency. Stocks were having a rather mundane day until a 1 p.m. 20-year bond auction saw weak demand and Treasury yields surged. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) added 11 basis points to hit 4.59%, while the 30-year Treasury yield (^TYX) added 12 basis points to 5.09%, hovering near its highest level since 2023. Stocks subsequently sold off. Interest rate-sensitive pockets of the market led the declines, with Real Estate (XLRE) falling 2.6% to lead the S&P 500 sector action. Meanwhile, the small-cap Russell 2000 Index (^RUT) also sank about 2.6%. Yahoo Finance's Dan Howley reports: OpenAI ( is purchasing legendary Apple (AAPL) designer Jony Ive's startup, io, for $6.5 billion in an effort to develop a new family of products that take advantage of generative AI technologies. 'The products that we're using to deliver and connect us to unimaginable technology, they're decades old,' Ive said in a prerecorded video released by OpenAI. 'And so it's just common sense to at least think, surely there's something beyond these legacy products. Ive famously oversaw the design of Apple's original colorful iMac, as well as products like the iPad, Apple Watch, and, most importantly, the iPhone. He left his position as chief design officer at Apple in 2019 to start his own design company called LoveFrom. Ive later founded io with his Apple successor, Evans Hankey, as well as Tang Tan and Scott Cannon, who also worked at Apple. Read more here. Rising bond yields appear to be at the forefront of the market narrative once again. In a research note to clients on Wednesday, Piper Sandler chief investment strategist Michael Kantrowitz detailed key levels to watch on the 10-Year Treasury yield and their potential implications on stocks. "The path of rates will also be crucial for equities, particularly for relative performance," Kantrowitz wrote. "Since 2022, equity markets have struggled when 10yr rates moved above 4.5%-4.75% and we are pushing up against that zone once again." As Kantrowitz highlights in the chart below, once the 10-year Treasury yield has risen above 4.5%, interest rate sensitive stocks typically see increased underperformance. This played out in Wednesday's action with the Russell 2000 Index (^RUT), which has many companies with more interest rate exposure than the S&P 500, falling nearly 2.2%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) was down 1.1%. \ A 1 p.m. 20-year bond auction saw weak demand, sending Treasury yields surging. The 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) added 9 basis points to hit 4.58% while the 30-year Treasury yield (^TYX) added 10 basis points to 5.07%, hovering near its highest level since 2023. Stocks reversed as yields rose, with all three of the major indexes quickly hitting their lows on the day. Canada Goose (GOOS) stock rose nearly 30% on Wednesday after the luxury coat maker posted strong first quarter results. Read more from Yahoo Finance Canada's Jeff Lagerquist. Alphabet (GOOG,GOOGL) stock led a tech rally on Wednesday as shares rose nearly 5%. The move higher comes after multiple announcements from the company at its Google I/O conference on Tuesday that has Wall Street more bullish on the tech giant's AI prospects. The company announced new AI glasses and new AI capabilities for its search product during the event on Tuesday. "We come away from Google I/O incrementally positive as we believe Google is leading in many areas of AI with Gemini at the top of foundational model leaderboards," JPM analyst Doug Anmuth wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday morning. Bitcoin rose to an all-time high above $109,000 per coin on Wednesday and cryptocurrency stocks followed the world's largest cryptocurrency higher. Bitcoin passed its old record high just after 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Take a look at what happened to shares of Coinbase (COIN), a bitcoin exchange, as well as bitcoin miners MARA Holdings (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT). Bitcoin (BTC-USD) rallied more than 4% on Wednesday to hit a new all-time high of $109,468 per coin, according to Yahoo Finance data. The world's largest cryptocurrency extended gains on Wednesday as investors digested growing trade tensions between the US and China while looming concerns over the US debt crisis boiled as well. The S&P 500's (^GSPC) macro moment may be over. As tariff news whipsawed markets to start the second quarter, stocks moved roughly in unison. In April, the one-month correlation of stock movements within the benchmark index soared to nearly 0.7, a level only seen in the past five years when the Federal Reserve began hiking interest rates in 2022 and during the onset of the pandemic. But as President Trump has dialed back the height of his tariffs on other nations, the correlation between stocks in the S&P 500 has tumbled to about 0.16. Piper Sandler chief investment strategist Michael Kantrowitz wrote in a note to clients that this is a sign that the market is shifting from a macro-driven market, where headlines on US trade policy have produced massive swings, to a market driven by company-specific fundamentals. "After two months of macro-dominated markets, we're likely to continue seeing markets, economic outlooks and sentiment stabilize," Kantrowitz wrote on Wednesday. "We are transitioning to a backdrop with mixed data and mixed views. This should keep market correlations low, as stocks should trade more with micro fundamentals and note entirely on macro headlines like we saw earlier this year." He added that "many of the macro fears that remain are more likely to be issues that differentiate stocks rather than dominate all of them." CoreWeave (CRWV) stock is ripping higher again on Wednesday. Shares were up more than 10% in early trading and have now soared about 50% in the past five sessions. The move higher comes after CoreWeave's first quarterly financial update as a public company revealed a revenue forecast far above Wall Street's expectations a week ago. In a research note on Wednesday, Citi analyst Tyler Radke boosted his 12-month price target to $94 from a prior target of $43. Radke noted his now anticipating "a cadence of strong [financial results]beats in the near term" for the Nvidia-backed AI play. But after a more than 100% rally since its IPO, Radke's new price target merely reflects roughly where CoreWeave stock was changing hands on Wednesday. "While we'd argue a portion of the re-rating is justified, given strong Azure/hyperscaler numbers and capex, we reiterate our Neutral/High Risk rating as we'd like to see more progress on profitability and more customer diversification," Radke wrote. Target (TGT) shares fell more than 7% in early trading after the company posted earnings results that were weaker than expected and warnrf of a potential drag from tariffs. Read more on Target's results from Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi here. Long-term Treasury yields continued to surge in the aftermath of Moody's US credit downgrade. The 30-year Treasury yield (^TYX) rose above the closely watched 5% level on Wednesday morning. It also briefly broke above that threshold on Monday before retreating, Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal reports: Read more here. More losses are weighing on UnitedHealth Group stock (UNH), which traded % lower an hour ahead of the opening bell. First, HSBC downgraded UnitedHealth shares to Reduce from Hold and slashed its price target by around 45% to $270, a Street low. The analysts cited UnitedHealth's leadership change and pulled guidance as risks to earnings going forward. Also on Wednesday, the Guardian reported that the healthcare conglomerate secretly paid nursing homes thousands in bonuses to help cut hospital transfers for ailing residents, per Reuters. The move is said to have saved the company millions while risking the health of residents. UnitedHealth, which is the largest Dow (^DJI) component by weight, has been a drag on the index recently. My colleague Anjalee Khemlani detailed a timeline of UnitedHealth's downward spiral over the past two years, which you can read here, as a cyberattack, the killing of its health insurance business's CEO, and a DOJ investigation have set shares back. Lowe's stock (LOW) popped 2% on Wednesday after delivering earnings that beat subdued expectations after years of post-pandemic struggles. Yahoo Finance's Brooke DiPalma writes: Read more here. Target (TGT) stock fell over 3% premarket on Wednesday after the retailer reported first quarter results that came in shy of Wall Street's expectations. Target earnings again fell behind the pace set by rival retailer Walmart (WMT), offering a tough comparison. Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi reports: Read more here. Shares of Wolfspeed (WOLF) plunged over 60% on Wednesday on the heels of a report that the semiconductor supplier is getting ready to file for bankruptcy within weeks. The company is pursuing a Chapter 11 plan as it struggles to tackle its debt pile, per The Wall Street Journal report. Reuters reports: Read more here. Traders faced a widespread outage to Bloomberg's terminal early on Wednesday morning that hampered a UK auction of government debt, per several media reports. The disruption and delays to the markets data service took hold at around 4:30 a.m. ET and weren't fixed until about 6 a.m. The Financial Times reported: Read more here (premium). Economic data: MBA Mortgage Applications (May 16) Earnings: Baidu (BIDU), Canada Goose (GOOS), Snowflake (SNOW), Target (TGT), TJX Companies (TJX), Urban Outfitters (URBN), VF Corporation (VFC), Zoom (ZM), Lowe's (LOW) Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning: How Trump could push retailers to 'eat' tariff price hikes Target slashes guidance amid DEI fallout and tariffs US-China tensions over chips put trade truce at risk What's next for Tesla as Musk enters a new phase Lowe's rises as it reports better than expected Q1 earnings Bloomberg terminal outage hits traders US-China tensions over chips risk hurting trade truce 'Fortnite' returns to Apple App Store after 4-year battle Nvidia CEO: US curbs on AI chip exports to China 'a failure' The dollar (DX=F) sank to a two-week low overnight Tuesday as the US's mounting debt concerns continue to impact the greenback. A Group-of-7 meeting currently underway in Banff, Canada, has brought the administration's approach towards buoying the dollar to the minds of investors. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. CNN has reported that Israel is in its final stages of preparing an attack on Iran, leading to oil prices jumping. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. Stocks were having a rather mundane day until a 1 p.m. 20-year bond auction saw weak demand and Treasury yields surged. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) added 11 basis points to hit 4.59%, while the 30-year Treasury yield (^TYX) added 12 basis points to 5.09%, hovering near its highest level since 2023. Stocks subsequently sold off. Interest rate-sensitive pockets of the market led the declines, with Real Estate (XLRE) falling 2.6% to lead the S&P 500 sector action. Meanwhile, the small-cap Russell 2000 Index (^RUT) also sank about 2.6%. Yahoo Finance's Dan Howley reports: OpenAI ( is purchasing legendary Apple (AAPL) designer Jony Ive's startup, io, for $6.5 billion in an effort to develop a new family of products that take advantage of generative AI technologies. 'The products that we're using to deliver and connect us to unimaginable technology, they're decades old,' Ive said in a prerecorded video released by OpenAI. 'And so it's just common sense to at least think, surely there's something beyond these legacy products. Ive famously oversaw the design of Apple's original colorful iMac, as well as products like the iPad, Apple Watch, and, most importantly, the iPhone. He left his position as chief design officer at Apple in 2019 to start his own design company called LoveFrom. Ive later founded io with his Apple successor, Evans Hankey, as well as Tang Tan and Scott Cannon, who also worked at Apple. Read more here. Rising bond yields appear to be at the forefront of the market narrative once again. In a research note to clients on Wednesday, Piper Sandler chief investment strategist Michael Kantrowitz detailed key levels to watch on the 10-Year Treasury yield and their potential implications on stocks. "The path of rates will also be crucial for equities, particularly for relative performance," Kantrowitz wrote. "Since 2022, equity markets have struggled when 10yr rates moved above 4.5%-4.75% and we are pushing up against that zone once again." As Kantrowitz highlights in the chart below, once the 10-year Treasury yield has risen above 4.5%, interest rate sensitive stocks typically see increased underperformance. This played out in Wednesday's action with the Russell 2000 Index (^RUT), which has many companies with more interest rate exposure than the S&P 500, falling nearly 2.2%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) was down 1.1%. \ A 1 p.m. 20-year bond auction saw weak demand, sending Treasury yields surging. The 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) added 9 basis points to hit 4.58% while the 30-year Treasury yield (^TYX) added 10 basis points to 5.07%, hovering near its highest level since 2023. Stocks reversed as yields rose, with all three of the major indexes quickly hitting their lows on the day. Canada Goose (GOOS) stock rose nearly 30% on Wednesday after the luxury coat maker posted strong first quarter results. Read more from Yahoo Finance Canada's Jeff Lagerquist. Alphabet (GOOG,GOOGL) stock led a tech rally on Wednesday as shares rose nearly 5%. The move higher comes after multiple announcements from the company at its Google I/O conference on Tuesday that has Wall Street more bullish on the tech giant's AI prospects. The company announced new AI glasses and new AI capabilities for its search product during the event on Tuesday. "We come away from Google I/O incrementally positive as we believe Google is leading in many areas of AI with Gemini at the top of foundational model leaderboards," JPM analyst Doug Anmuth wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday morning. Bitcoin rose to an all-time high above $109,000 per coin on Wednesday and cryptocurrency stocks followed the world's largest cryptocurrency higher. Bitcoin passed its old record high just after 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Take a look at what happened to shares of Coinbase (COIN), a bitcoin exchange, as well as bitcoin miners MARA Holdings (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT). Bitcoin (BTC-USD) rallied more than 4% on Wednesday to hit a new all-time high of $109,468 per coin, according to Yahoo Finance data. The world's largest cryptocurrency extended gains on Wednesday as investors digested growing trade tensions between the US and China while looming concerns over the US debt crisis boiled as well. The S&P 500's (^GSPC) macro moment may be over. As tariff news whipsawed markets to start the second quarter, stocks moved roughly in unison. In April, the one-month correlation of stock movements within the benchmark index soared to nearly 0.7, a level only seen in the past five years when the Federal Reserve began hiking interest rates in 2022 and during the onset of the pandemic. But as President Trump has dialed back the height of his tariffs on other nations, the correlation between stocks in the S&P 500 has tumbled to about 0.16. Piper Sandler chief investment strategist Michael Kantrowitz wrote in a note to clients that this is a sign that the market is shifting from a macro-driven market, where headlines on US trade policy have produced massive swings, to a market driven by company-specific fundamentals. "After two months of macro-dominated markets, we're likely to continue seeing markets, economic outlooks and sentiment stabilize," Kantrowitz wrote on Wednesday. "We are transitioning to a backdrop with mixed data and mixed views. This should keep market correlations low, as stocks should trade more with micro fundamentals and note entirely on macro headlines like we saw earlier this year." He added that "many of the macro fears that remain are more likely to be issues that differentiate stocks rather than dominate all of them." CoreWeave (CRWV) stock is ripping higher again on Wednesday. Shares were up more than 10% in early trading and have now soared about 50% in the past five sessions. The move higher comes after CoreWeave's first quarterly financial update as a public company revealed a revenue forecast far above Wall Street's expectations a week ago. In a research note on Wednesday, Citi analyst Tyler Radke boosted his 12-month price target to $94 from a prior target of $43. Radke noted his now anticipating "a cadence of strong [financial results]beats in the near term" for the Nvidia-backed AI play. But after a more than 100% rally since its IPO, Radke's new price target merely reflects roughly where CoreWeave stock was changing hands on Wednesday. "While we'd argue a portion of the re-rating is justified, given strong Azure/hyperscaler numbers and capex, we reiterate our Neutral/High Risk rating as we'd like to see more progress on profitability and more customer diversification," Radke wrote. Target (TGT) shares fell more than 7% in early trading after the company posted earnings results that were weaker than expected and warnrf of a potential drag from tariffs. Read more on Target's results from Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi here. Long-term Treasury yields continued to surge in the aftermath of Moody's US credit downgrade. The 30-year Treasury yield (^TYX) rose above the closely watched 5% level on Wednesday morning. It also briefly broke above that threshold on Monday before retreating, Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal reports: Read more here. More losses are weighing on UnitedHealth Group stock (UNH), which traded % lower an hour ahead of the opening bell. First, HSBC downgraded UnitedHealth shares to Reduce from Hold and slashed its price target by around 45% to $270, a Street low. The analysts cited UnitedHealth's leadership change and pulled guidance as risks to earnings going forward. Also on Wednesday, the Guardian reported that the healthcare conglomerate secretly paid nursing homes thousands in bonuses to help cut hospital transfers for ailing residents, per Reuters. The move is said to have saved the company millions while risking the health of residents. UnitedHealth, which is the largest Dow (^DJI) component by weight, has been a drag on the index recently. My colleague Anjalee Khemlani detailed a timeline of UnitedHealth's downward spiral over the past two years, which you can read here, as a cyberattack, the killing of its health insurance business's CEO, and a DOJ investigation have set shares back. Lowe's stock (LOW) popped 2% on Wednesday after delivering earnings that beat subdued expectations after years of post-pandemic struggles. Yahoo Finance's Brooke DiPalma writes: Read more here. Target (TGT) stock fell over 3% premarket on Wednesday after the retailer reported first quarter results that came in shy of Wall Street's expectations. Target earnings again fell behind the pace set by rival retailer Walmart (WMT), offering a tough comparison. Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi reports: Read more here. Shares of Wolfspeed (WOLF) plunged over 60% on Wednesday on the heels of a report that the semiconductor supplier is getting ready to file for bankruptcy within weeks. The company is pursuing a Chapter 11 plan as it struggles to tackle its debt pile, per The Wall Street Journal report. Reuters reports: Read more here. Traders faced a widespread outage to Bloomberg's terminal early on Wednesday morning that hampered a UK auction of government debt, per several media reports. The disruption and delays to the markets data service took hold at around 4:30 a.m. ET and weren't fixed until about 6 a.m. The Financial Times reported: Read more here (premium). Economic data: MBA Mortgage Applications (May 16) Earnings: Baidu (BIDU), Canada Goose (GOOS), Snowflake (SNOW), Target (TGT), TJX Companies (TJX), Urban Outfitters (URBN), VF Corporation (VFC), Zoom (ZM), Lowe's (LOW) Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning: How Trump could push retailers to 'eat' tariff price hikes Target slashes guidance amid DEI fallout and tariffs US-China tensions over chips put trade truce at risk What's next for Tesla as Musk enters a new phase Lowe's rises as it reports better than expected Q1 earnings Bloomberg terminal outage hits traders US-China tensions over chips risk hurting trade truce 'Fortnite' returns to Apple App Store after 4-year battle Nvidia CEO: US curbs on AI chip exports to China 'a failure' The dollar (DX=F) sank to a two-week low overnight Tuesday as the US's mounting debt concerns continue to impact the greenback. A Group-of-7 meeting currently underway in Banff, Canada, has brought the administration's approach towards buoying the dollar to the minds of investors. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. CNN has reported that Israel is in its final stages of preparing an attack on Iran, leading to oil prices jumping. Bloomberg reports: Read more here.
Bloomberg
21-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
S&P 500 Extends Decline, Target Cuts Outlook on Macro Pressure
US equities fell on Wednesday as climbing bond yields continued to pressure risk assets and consumer bellwether Target Corp. slashed its sales outlook, citing tariffs and economic turbulence. The S&P 500 Index slumped 0.7% at 9:31 a.m. in New York, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Index posted roughly the same decline. US Treasury yields eclipsed key psychological levels, with the 30-year topping 5%.
Reuters
21-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Asian stocks edge up as US trade deals, fiscal health in focus
May 21 (Reuters) - Asian equities edged higher on Wednesday, with risk appetite contained by elevated bond yields as investors remained nervous about the fiscal outlook of major developed economies and the lack of progress on fresh trade deals. Crude prices rose more than $1 a barrel after a CNN report said that Israel was preparing a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, raising supply concerns out of the key Middle East producing region and bringing geopolitical concerns back into focus. All eyes are also on the Japanese bond markets, a day after yields on super-long tenors surged to record highs on worries about demand for the country's debt after a weak 20-year auction. In early trading on Wednesday, the yield on 20-year bonds edged up 2 basis points, while those on the 30-year JGB slipped 1.5 bps. In stocks, China's blue-chip index (.CSI300), opens new tab was muted in early trading, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (.HSI), opens new tab rose 0.58%. China said it could take legal action against any individual or organisation assisting or implementing U.S. measures that advise companies against using advanced semiconductors from China. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab crept up 0.5%, while Japan's Nikkei (.N225), opens new tab was down 0.18%. "The markets are hungry for new catalysts to pique further risk appetite," said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at "The U.S.'s backflip on trade policy and the damage control that it went into to clean up the mess it created with the Liberation Day tariffs signals a determination to get all of this done. That's what is keeping equity valuations well supported." Data on Wednesday showed Japanese shipments to the U.S. fell in April even as exports rose for the seventh straight month, highlighting the toll President Donald Trump's tariffs could take on the fragile economic recovery in Japan. Fiscal woes were also reflected on Wall Street, with the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab snapping a six-day winning streak on Tuesday, limited by a rise in U.S. Treasury yields, which were steady in Asian hours on Wednesday. A tax bill that could add about $3 trillion to $5 trillion to the U.S. federal government's mushrooming $36.2 trillion debt load is expected to be voted on later this week in Congress, just days after Moody's became the latest agency to lower the country's credit rating. Analysts also noted that any progress on new trade deals between the U.S. and its trade partners could fuel risk appetite, although concerns were that Trump's policies could have already damaged the global economy. On Tuesday, U.S. Federal Reserve officials said that higher prices were coming on the back of rising U.S. import tariffs and counselled patience before making any interest rate decisions. Traders were also wary of U.S. officials angling for a weaker greenback at Group of Seven finance minister meetings currently underway in Canada. In Europe, STOXX 50's futures were steady while FTSE 100 futures were muted, with caution setting in ahead of a consumer inflation report expected later in the day out of the United Kingdom. Economists polled by Reuters forecast the consumer price index to rise 3.3% in April from the previous month's 2.2%. The dollar index , which measures the U.S. currency against six other units, edged down 0.03% to 99.938, following a 1.3% two-day decline. The Japanese yen strengthened to 144.27 per dollar, hovering near its strongest level in two weeks. Gold prices rose on Wednesday as the dollar weakened and investors flocked to safe-haven assets. Spot gold was 0.14% at $3,293 per ounce, the highest in more than a week.
