SINGAPORE: U.S. stock futures and the dollar trimmed their gains on Wednesday as U.S. President Donald Trump promised immigration and tax reforms in a speech that contained few specifics or surprises. 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.
U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open during Trump’s address, although gains shrank as the speech progressed. E-mini Dow Jones futures added 0.1 percent, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped a 12-day winning streak to close down 0.1 percent in the prior session. E-mini S&P futures were 0.15 percent higher, while e-mini Nasdaq futures were fractionally higher. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of trade-weighted peers, narrowed earlier advances to trade 0.2 percent higher at 101.32 on Wednesday.
The U.S. currency rebounded to trade 0.3 percent higher at 113.05 yen, after earlier erasing its gains. Reaction in Asian stock markets to Trump’s speech was largely muted, with the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down about 0.2 percent. The index had already narrowed its morning losses after official data showed the Chinese manufacturing sector expanded faster than expected in February.
