By John Geddie
LONDON (Reuters) - Financial markets showed the diverging path of U.S. and euro zone monetary policy on Wednesday with Wall Street breaking new ground and the dollar perched near a 14-year high, as German bond yields plumbed new record lows.
World stocks (MIWD00000PUS) edged up and the Dow closed above 19,000 for the first time (DJI) with investors expecting a growth boost under the policies of U.S President-elect Donald Trump and an imminent rate hike from the Federal Reserve that should be reinforced by minutes released later in the day.
With European rate setters leaning the other way, reaffirming their commitment to easy policy, the euro
In Britain, sterling was a tad weaker at $1.2408
"We do like policy divergence trades," Rabobank strategist Lyn Graham-Taylor said.
"I think markets had been a bit euphoric in the wake of Trump and now they are coming around to the understanding that there is not going to be fiscal stimulus that is going to be good for everyone."
European stocks (FTEU3) were flat, struggling to match the exuberance in Asia (MIAPJ0000PUS), where stocks gained 0.7 percent to strike a one-week high, or the U.S., where the Dow (DJI) hit a record high up 0.35 percent, the S&P 500 (SPX) gained 0.22 percent and the Nasdaq (IXIC) 0.33 percent. (N)
With Japan on holiday, Australia's main index (AXJO) led the action in Asia with a rise of 1.35 percent to a one-month top helped by strength in bulk commodity prices.
China's blue-chip CSI300 index <.CSI300> advanced 0.5 percent to a near 11-month peak as the yuan touched its lowest in six years. (CNY)
For Reuters new Live Markets blog on European and UK stock markets see reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=http://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?pageId=livemarkets
YIELD GAP UNDERMINES EURO
With equities in demand, U.S. bonds were getting the cold shoulder. Two-year note yields (US2YT=RR) rose as far as 1.107 percent on Tuesday, the highest since April 2010.
Euro zone yields were heading in the opposite direction and some solid growth data could not shake expectations for more monetary easing from the European Central Bank next month.
That saw yields on German two-year paper dive to record lows of minus 0.74 percent
The widening spread kept the euro pinned at $1.0611
The dollar also kept most of its recent hefty gains on the yen at 111.05
Emerging markets have struggled in recent days as surging U.S. bond yields sucked much-needed capital out of Asia. President-elect Donald Trump's past talk of trade tariffs has also weighed on sentiment in the export-intensive region.
Analysts at JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) said Trump's pledge to dump the Trans-Pacific Partnership was already priced into markets.
"What may not be factored in is the possibility of follow-through on other, more protectionist campaign proposals," they wrote in a note to clients.
"We remain concerned about this as a source of downside risk, delivering a negative surprise to markets which so far appear to be enamored of his emphasis on fiscal stimulus and deregulation since the election."
Elsewhere, oil prices declined as doubts re-emerged over whether OPEC would agree to a crude oil production cut at a ministerial meeting next week. [O/R]
Brent crude (LCOc1) eased 10 cents to $49.03 a barrel, while U.S. crude (CLc1) lost 5 cents to $48.00.
Industrial metals advanced on talk of demand from China and the whole global reflation trade. Copper was near a 16-month high, while iron ore futures <0#DCIO:> surged 8 percent on the back of higher steel prices.