Investors shrug off impeachment chaos, focus on $2tr stimulus plan

Investors shrug off impeachment chaos, focus on $2tr stimulus plan

Investors shrug off impeachment chaos, focus on $2tr stimulus plan

2 hours ago

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Associated Press

Investors shrugged off US President Donald Trump's second impeachment and focused instead on reports that his successor, Joe Biden, will lay out a new US $2 trillion stimulus programme later.

Hopes for the supersized package lifted most major stock markets. Japan's Nikkei hit a three-decade peak in Asia and Europe climbed 0.5% higher as traders largely ignored the prospect of another Italian government collapse.

Wall Street futures were pointing higher too while in the bond markets there was starting to be signs of selling again.

The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries - the benchmark for global borrowing costs - rose two basis points to 1.11% as traders contemplated a $2 trillion Biden COVID-19 aid package ramping U.S. debt levels up even further.

European yields were mostly being held in place with the region's stricter COVID-19 lockdowns bolstering bets of more European Central Bank bond buying, but inflation expectation gauges were creeping higher.

Luca Paolini, Chief Strategist at Pictet Asset Management, said an ongoing rise in borrowing rates could unsettle markets if they start to accelerate.

"It could