Global shares jump on Trump’s AI push, dollar at two-week low

Global shares rose on Wednesday, powered by a rise in technology stocks after US President Donald Trump announced mammoth spending plans for artificial intelligence infrastructure, while the dollar sagged to a two-week low as tariffs were delayed.

Late on Tuesday, Trump announced that OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle will form a joint venture and invest up to $500 billion to build data AI centers.

Shares of SoftBank surged 10.6% in Tokyo, while Oracle gained 8.5% in early trade on Wall Street, adding to the previous day’s 7.2% jump.

That helped lift the tech-heavy Nasdaq 1%. The benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.5% in early trade.

European shares were also higher on Wednesday despite threats of US import tariffs, with Trump again vowing to hit the European Union with fresh levies.

But Europe was breathing a sigh of relief as many investors and foreign capitals had expected tariffs to be implemented on Trump’s first day in office, as promised during his campaign.

“Trump seems more focused at home and Europe’s got a stay of execution,” said Eddie Kennedy, head of bespoke discretionary fund management at Marlborough.

“Therefore, I think it makes sense to have a little rally.” The pan-continental STOXX 600 rose 0.7% to a record intraday high. Blue-chips in Frankfurt and London also rose to new intraday peaks, up 1.1% and 0.1% respectively.

Europe’s infrastructure stocks, such as Schneider Electric and Prysmian, were some of the outperformers on Trump’s AI investment push.

Investment in AI has surged since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022, lifting share prices of chipmakers and those building the infrastructure, helping drive gains in the broader market.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.6%, lifted by the near 11% rise in SoftBank shares.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan , however, rose just 0.1% as drops in Chinese and Hong Kong stocks offset broad gains elsewhere.

Trump said his administration was considering a 10% punitive duty on Chinese imports because fentanyl is being sent from China to the US via Mexico and Canada.

Chinese blue chips fell 0.9% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 1.6%.

MSCI’s broadest measure of global stocks was up 0.5%.

The delay by Trump in imposing tariffs on major economies has pushed the dollar to a two-week low against a basket of currencies.

The US dollar index, which measures the currency against six others, was little changed at 108.15, having earlier fallen to its lowest since Jan. 6 at 107.75.

The dollar “sold off in response to the lack of clear Day 1 tariffs news, though it’s difficult to separate out how much of that move is a partial unwind of dollar-long positioning, and how much is a more durable market reassessment of tariff risks,” said Stuart Jenkins, FX strategist at Goldman Sachs.

The euro was down 0.1% at $1.0420, having earlier risen to $1.0457, its highest since Dec. 30.

The dollar was up 0.3% at 155.87 yen after falling to a one-month low in the previous session.

The Japanese currency has strengthened against the dollar in recent sessions, supported by growing expectations the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates at its policy meeting on Friday.

In commodities, oil prices were slightly lower, having fallen more than 2% on Tuesday on Trump’s plans to boost US energy production. Brent crude was down 0.3% at $79.08 a barrel, while US crude was down a similar amount at $75.62.

Spot gold added 0.2% to $2,750 per ounce, having earlier hit its highest level since October. London’s FTSE 100 touched a record high on Wednesday, as positive corporate updates and expectations of further monetary policy easing outweighed worries about tariffs promised by US President Donald Trump.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 rose 0.3% by 1047 GMT, extending gains for a sixth straight session, while the midcap FTSE 250 index edged up 0.4% to touch a more-than-two-week high.

The broader European STOXX 600 index also touched a record high, with markets appearing to ignore fresh tariff threats from Trump, who vowed to hit the European Union with tariffs and said his administration was discussing a 10% punitive duty on Chinese imports.

Back home, Britain ran a bigger-than-expected budget deficit in December, swelled by debt interest costs and a one-off purchase of military homes, according to data that underlined the fiscal pressure faced by finance minister Rachel Reeves.

Public sector net borrowing was 17.8 billion pounds ($21.93 billion) in December, while economists polled by Reuters had a median forecast of 14.1 billion pounds.

Agencies

Global shares rose on Wednesday, powered by a rise in technology stocks after US President Donald Trump announced mammoth spending plans for artificial intelligence infrastructure, while the dollar sagged to a two-week low as tariffs were delayed.

Late on Tuesday, Trump announced that OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle will form a joint venture and invest up to $500 billion to build data AI centers.

Shares of SoftBank surged 10.6% in Tokyo, while Oracle gained 8.5% in early trade on Wall Street, adding to the previous day’s 7.2% jump.

That helped lift the tech-heavy Nasdaq 1%. The benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.5% in early trade.

European shares were also higher on Wednesday despite threats of US import tariffs, with Trump again vowing to hit the European Union with fresh levies.

But Europe was breathing a sigh of relief as many investors and foreign capitals had expected tariffs to be implemented on Trump’s first day in office, as promised during his campaign.

“Trump seems more focused at home and Europe’s got a stay of execution,” said Eddie Kennedy, head of bespoke discretionary fund management at Marlborough.

“Therefore, I think it makes sense to have a little rally.” The pan-continental STOXX 600 rose 0.7% to a record intraday high. Blue-chips in Frankfurt and London also rose to new intraday peaks, up 1.1% and 0.1% respectively.

Europe’s infrastructure stocks, such as Schneider Electric and Prysmian, were some of the outperformers on Trump’s AI investment push.

Investment in AI has surged since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022, lifting share prices of chipmakers and those building the infrastructure, helping drive gains in the broader market.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.6%, lifted by the near 11% rise in SoftBank shares.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan , however, rose just 0.1% as drops in Chinese and Hong Kong stocks offset broad gains elsewhere.

Trump said his administration was considering a 10% punitive duty on Chinese imports because fentanyl is being sent from China to the US via Mexico and Canada.

Chinese blue chips fell 0.9% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 1.6%.

MSCI’s broadest measure of global stocks was up 0.5%.

The delay by Trump in imposing tariffs on major economies has pushed the dollar to a two-week low against a basket of currencies.

The US dollar index, which measures the currency against six others, was little changed at 108.15, having earlier fallen to its lowest since Jan. 6 at 107.75.

The dollar “sold off in response to the lack of clear Day 1 tariffs news, though it’s difficult to separate out how much of that move is a partial unwind of dollar-long positioning, and how much is a more durable market reassessment of tariff risks,” said Stuart Jenkins, FX strategist at Goldman Sachs.

The euro was down 0.1% at $1.0420, having earlier risen to $1.0457, its highest since Dec. 30.

The dollar was up 0.3% at 155.87 yen after falling to a one-month low in the previous session.

The Japanese currency has strengthened against the dollar in recent sessions, supported by growing expectations the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates at its policy meeting on Friday.

In commodities, oil prices were slightly lower, having fallen more than 2% on Tuesday on Trump’s plans to boost US energy production. Brent crude was down 0.3% at $79.08 a barrel, while US crude was down a similar amount at $75.62.

Spot gold added 0.2% to $2,750 per ounce, having earlier hit its highest level since October. London’s FTSE 100 touched a record high on Wednesday, as positive corporate updates and expectations of further monetary policy easing outweighed worries about tariffs promised by US President Donald Trump.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 rose 0.3% by 1047 GMT, extending gains for a sixth straight session, while the midcap FTSE 250 index edged up 0.4% to touch a more-than-two-week high.

The broader European STOXX 600 index also touched a record high, with markets appearing to ignore fresh tariff threats from Trump, who vowed to hit the European Union with tariffs and said his administration was discussing a 10% punitive duty on Chinese imports.

Back home, Britain ran a bigger-than-expected budget deficit in December, swelled by debt interest costs and a one-off purchase of military homes, according to data that underlined the fiscal pressure faced by finance minister Rachel Reeves.

Public sector net borrowing was 17.8 billion pounds ($21.93 billion) in December, while economists polled by Reuters had a median forecast of 14.1 billion pounds.

Agencies

But Europe was breathing a sigh of relief as many investors and foreign capitals had expected tariffs to be implemented on Trump’s first day in office, as promised during his campaign