London — World stocks racked up record highs on Thursday and the dollar fell, as investors bet major stimulus from new US President Joe Biden and unswerving global central bank support would cushion the coronavirus’s economic damage.
Republicans in the US Congress have indicated they are willing to work with Biden on his administration’s top priority, a $1.9-trillion US fiscal-stimulus plan. Some remain opposed to the price tag, but the final amount is still expected to be worth at least 5% of US GDP. Bond yields barely budged, with debt markets now focusing on the ECB’s meeting, which comes against a backdrop of ongoing challenges.
“We don’t expect many fireworks from the ECB meeting”, ING strategists said, foreseeing “a fairly uneventful day for the euro”, which was up 0.2% at $1.2135 but well within its recent $1.20 to $1.23 range.