By Samuel Indyk
LONDON (Reuters) – Global shares rose on Wednesday, powered by a rise in technology stocks after U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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%.
DOLLAR DROPS TO TWO-WEEK LOW
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 U.S. 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.
