U.S. stock futures pared gains on Wednesday on disappointment that President Donald Trump did not offer further details on his plans for infrastructure spending and tax reforms, but the dollar firmed on growing expectations of a rate hike this month.
European stock markets were poised for a positive start, with financial spreadbetters expecting Britain’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX to open 0.2 per cent higher, and France’s CAC 40 to start the day up 0.3 per cent.
Trump pledged to overhaul the immigration system, improve jobs and wages for Americans and promised “massive” tax relief to the middle class and tax cuts for companies, but offered few clues on how they would be achieved.
“Investors had little to grasp, and market reaction during the speech was choppy and directionless,” market strategists Paul Christopher, Scott Wren and Sameer Samana at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis said.
“The speech was short on details and did not even prioritize the president’s goals.”
Capital Economics’ Paul Ashworth said Trump has been struggling to implement his agenda.
“With Congress getting bogged down by Republican infighting over efforts to repeal and replace existing health care legislation, it will take considerably longer to pass tax reform than we initially thought on election night,” Ashworth said in a note.
“There is now a good chance that it won’t happen until early next year.”