The China Mail - Stock markets mostly higher as they track Trump plans, earnings

However, Hong Kong and Shanghai's indices fell after Trump warned China could be included in a list of countries to be hit with tariffs on February 1.

The latest batch of corporate earnings helped boost sentiment on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 flirting with a record high.

Shares in Netflix soared more than 11 percent after it reported adding almost 19 million subscribers during the holiday season to finish last year with more than 300 million globally.

And while the inflationary impact of Trump's tariff plans gave investors cold sweats in December, they are proving more sanguine this week.

"Thus far, the stock market has not found reason to fear the tariff approach for a variety of reasons: it isn't as onerous as expected at this stage; there hasn't been a retaliatory tit-for-tat; and there is a belief it is more of a negotiating tactic than an official policy," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

A retreat in US government bond yields after last week's spike has also reassured equities investors.

In Europe, the London and Frankfurt stock markets continued to hit record highs, helped by currency movements.

London's FTSE 100 index was supported by "a weak pound that allows investors to buy UK companies with international businesses at cheaper prices", noted Swissquote Bank senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya.

The FTSE 100 ended the day a tad lower, however, while the DAX set a new record closing high.

"European stocks are rising on the coattails of the America's changed economic policy, which has allowed European stocks to play catch up for now," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.

Oil prices slid further after tumbling Tuesday in reaction to Trump's announcement of a "national energy emergency" to ramp up drilling in the United States.

Traders have been bracing for Trump 2.0 since his re-election in November, with an initial rally -- fuelled by hopes of market-boosting measures -- giving way to worries he would resume his trade war with China and also target others.

There had been optimism that Beijing would avoid being targeted in an early flurry of duties by the White House after Trump said Monday he would first hit Canada and Mexico.

But he broadened his targets Tuesday to include China and the European Union.

There is also a concern that Trump's plans to slash taxes, immigration and regulations will reignite inflation and crimp the Federal Reserve's ability to cut interest rates.

Shares in software investment giant SoftBank soared more than 10 percent Wednesday -- leading Tokyo-listed chipmakers higher -- after Trump said it was included in a new $500-billion venture to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence in the United States.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 piled on more than one percent thanks to SoftBank's advance fuelled by news that it will be part of the Stargate venture along with cloud giant Oracle and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

Shares in Oracle rose by six percent. OpenAI is a privately-held company.

Shares in ASML, the Dutch firm which makes the equipment to manufacture the most powerful chips used for AI projects, rose 2.3 percent in Amsterdam.

- Key figures around 1630 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 44,136 points

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.8 percent at 6,095.54

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.4 percent at 20,029.29

London - FTSE 100: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 8,545.13 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.9 percent at 7,837.40 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.0 percent at 21,254.27 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.6 percent at 39,646.25 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.6 percent at 19,778.77 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.9 percent at 3,213.62 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0414 from $1.0426 on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2318 from $1.2342

Dollar/yen: UP at 156.57 yen from 155.50 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 84.55 pence from 84.45 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.4 percent at $78.95 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.4 percent at $75.51 per barrel

burs-rl/sbk

K.Leung--ThChM