Stocks climb while dollar falls as markets cheer US Treasury pick
Removes extraneous word 'the' in paragraph 9, reinstates dropped word 'was' in paragraph 16
Investor Scott Bessent named as US Treasury Secretary
Wall St indexes up: S&P 500, Dow hit records
Dollar, US Treasury yields, oil prices all fall
By Sinéad Carew and Nell Mackenzie
NEW YORK/LONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) -MSCI's global equities gauge rose and the dollar fell with U.S. government bond yields on Monday as investors welcomed the incoming U.S. President's selection of fund manager Scott Bessent as the next U.S. Treasury Secretary.
Wall Street indexes gained ground, with the S&P 500 and the Dow touching record highs as investors were encouraged by Donald Trump's pick for the top economic job. Some cited a focus on tax cuts and others bet he would be fiscally cautious.
U.S. Treasury yields fell sharply as investors speculated on a more moderate than feared U.S. fiscal trajectory.
"What we're in is a Trump rally. Markets like a Republican because they figure taxes aren't going up and hopefully will go down," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York.
And the fact that the President-elect has already created his cabinet suggests he will be "up and running early," said Ghriskey, adding that the market was viewing the Treasury Secretary pick as a positive even with concerns about tariffs.
In an interview published on Sunday, Bessent told the Wall Street Journal that both tax and spending cuts were priorities.
Bessent had told CNBC earlier in November, before his selection as Treasury secretary, that he would recommend "tariffs be layered in gradually."
At 11:19 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 404.35 points, or 0.91%, to 44,700.86, the S&P 500 .SPX rose 25.98 points, or 0.44%, to 5,995.36 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC rose 112.30 points, or 0.59%, to 19,116.04.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS rose 4.80 points, or 0.56%, to 858.93 and Europe's STOXX 600 .STOXX index rose 0.21%.
The European index had hit a two-week high, boosted by the Bessent nomination and comments from the European Central Bank chief economist on monetary policy easing.
In a trading week shortened by Thursday's U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, key events will be the release of October Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), the latest GDP estimate, and U.S. Federal Reserve minutes are due on Tuesday.
Markets still expect a Fed cut next month, though rate-cut bets have been dialled back in recent weeks.
In Treasuries, the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR fell 11.3 basis points to 4.298%, from 4.41% late on Friday while the 30-year bond US30YT=RR yield fell 12.1 basis points to 4.4742%.
The 2-year note US2YT=RR yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell 5.8 basis points to 4.311%, from 4.369% late on Friday.
In currencies, the dollar index =USD, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.02% to 106.95.
Against the Japanese yen JPY=, the dollar weakened 0.23% to 154.39 and the euro EUR= was up 0.7% against the dollar at $1.049.
The euro had fallen sharply this month on worries over Trump tariffs, deteriorating economic conditions and signs of an escalation in Russia/Ukraine war.
Oil prices fell after Axios reported that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the terms of a deal to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, citing an unnamed senior U.S. official.
U.S. crude CLc1 fell 3.03% to $69.08 a barrel and Brent LCOc1 fell to $73.09 per barrel, down 2.75% on the day.
Bitcoin BTC= fell 0.9% to $96,145.00 after Friday hitting a record of $99,830 on bets on a friendly regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies under Trump.
Gold prices fell sharply, breaking a five-session rally, as reports of Israel nearing a ceasefire with Hezbollah, coupled with Trump’s Treasury Secretary pick, tarnished demand for the safe-haven precious metal.
Spot gold XAU= fell 2.93% to $2,633.10 an ounce. U.S. gold futures GCc1 fell 2.56% to $2,640.40 an ounce.
World FX rates YTD http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Asian stock markets https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
Reporting by Sinéad Carew, Nell Mackenzie, Tom Westbrook, Kevin Buckland; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe, Kim Coghill, Stephen Coates, Jan Harvey, Ed Osmond, William Maclean
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