Global stocks hit record highs on Wednesday, February 22, driving gains for the year above those for all of 2016, while the dollar rose.
European shares followed Asian bourses higher, buoyed by all main indexes on Wall Street touching record closing highs on Tuesday.
Relatively strong earnings seasons in Europe and the United States, forecast-beating economic data and U.S. President Donald Trump’s promises of tax reform, less regulation and more infrastructure spending have all helped lift stock markets.
MSCI’s main index of global stocks , which tracks share prices across 46 countries, hit a second successive record high. It has risen some 5.7 percent so far this year, beating the 5.6 percent gains of 2016.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.1 percent on Wednesday. Britain’s Lloyds Banking Group was up 3 percent after reporting its highest full-year profit in a decade.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.9 percent but Japan’s Nikkei bucked the trend, closing marginally lower as the yen strengthened.
The day’s most anticipated event for markets will be the release of the minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting.
