By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global stocks rose while the U.S. dollar index dropped on Monday after President-elect Donald Trump denied a newspaper report that his incoming administration would likely pursue a less-aggressive tariff policy than he previously threatened.
European stocks and currencies climbed following a Washington Post report earlier on Monday that Trump aides were exploring tariff plans that would be applied to every country but only cover certain sectors deemed critical to national or economic security. That would mark a significant shift from Trump’s campaign pledge for broader tariffs.
Trump called the story wrong and “just another example of Fake News” in a social media post.
“We are going through this game where they are going to continue to use trial balloons from other people, giving the president the right to disclaim if he’s not happy with the messaging,” said Tom Plumb, CEO and lead portfolio manager at Plumb Funds in Madison, Wisconsin.
“We are still in the spot where if you look at the top 11 market-cap companies in the S&P 500, they’re expected to have 50% earnings growth.”
Wall Street’s main indexes rose, led by technology, materials, communication services and consumer discretionary stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.88% to 43,108.79, the S&P 500 advanced 1.30% to 6,019.72 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.82% to 19,979.44.
The pan-European stock index finished up 0.94% at 512.37, near its session high of 513.08. MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 1.20% to 857.39.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,fell 0.73% to 108.17, with the euro up 0.88% at $1.0399.
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.48% against the U.S. dollar to 1.44 per dollar after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stepped down as leader of the ruling Liberals after nine years in office.
Yields on long-term Treasury securities, including the benchmark 10-year note and 30-year bond, rose as traders weighed Trump’s tariff policy. The 10-year yield rose 2.7 basis points to 4.622%, while the 30-year yield climbed 2.6 basis points to 4.8409%.
The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with expectations for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate moves, fell 1.7 basis points to 4.262%.
Oil prices hit a 12-week high as a winter storm boosted demand for energy to heat U.S. homes and businesses. Brent futures rose 0.16% to $76.62 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 0.18% to $74.07.
Both crude benchmarks are on track for the sixth straight day of gains after hitting their highest level since around mid-October.
Gold prices held steady as rising U.S. Treasury yields offset a weak U.S. dollar. Spot gold rose 0.01% to $2,639.46 an ounce. U.S. gold futures fell 0.27% to $2,637.90 an ounce.
(Additional reporting by Alun John in London and Wayne Cole in Sydney; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Gareth Jones, Ed Osmond, Rod Nickel and Richard Chang)
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