Dollar dips heading into end of quarter

THE US dollar slipped yesterday after a recent rally and world stock markets inched higher as investors digested economic data from the United States and prospects for a US tax reform plan proposed by President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday Trump proposed the biggest US tax overhaul in three decades, calling for tax cuts for most Americans, but prompting criticism that the plan favours business and the rich and could add trillions of dollars to the deficit.

“In the US, for stocks at least, it is kind of a hangover from yesterday’s tax news, people still trying to digest that,” said William Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird in Milwaukee.

“From a bond perspective, it is still this idea that the Fed seems very insistent on looking past any sort of short-term data that we might get between now and December and raising rates,” Delwiche said.

On Wall Street, equity indexes were little changed after notching solid gains a day earlier.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 44.93 points, or 0.2pc, to 22,385.64, the S&P 500 gained 2.72 points, or 0.11pc, to 2,509.76 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.35 points, or 0.05pc, to 6,449.91.

The Dow got a boost from McDonald’s shares, which rose 2.5pc after an analyst upgrade.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.07pc.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.16pc.

Emerging market stocks lost 0.55pc, their sixth straight session of declines.

The dollar edged lower against a basket of currencies, on pace to snap a three-day winning streak, as investors looked to take profit ahead of the end of the quarter.