Stocks waver, dollar slips with focus on tariffs
Stocks in Asia saw a muted open after Donald Trump’s tariff plan roiled emerging markets in the previous session.
Equities opened higher in Sydney, while dipping in Tokyo and Seoul. US equity futures were little changed after the S&P 500 rose for a seventh day to notch its 52nd record this year. A Bloomberg gauge of the dollar slipped 0.1%, paring some of its strength seen on Tuesday that pressured the Mexican peso and Chinese yuan, among others.
Trump’s tariff plan seemed to gather further momentum on Wednesday, with the president-elect’s transition team said to be readying an announcement of Jamieson Greer as US Trade Representative. A longtime protégé of Robert Lighthizer, the selection highlights the key role tariffs will play in the new administration’s economic agenda.
China “is likely to respond cautiously at first to Trump’s threats, until it gets a better sense of the balance between confrontation and deal-making in his second term,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow for Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.
Middle East tensions abated somewhat as President Joe Biden said Israel reached a cease-fire deal with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah after weeks of talks mediated by the US. While anticipation of the announcement sent oil lower on Tuesday, crude was little changed early Wednesday after an industry report showed a drop in US stockpiles and traders looked to an OPEC meeting this weekend.
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