Asia shares get off to bumpy start in 2025 with Trump's policies in focus

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global stocks fell on Thursday as early gains faded, continuing the year-end downdraft into the first trading day of the new year, while the dollar hit a two-year high after economic data indicated the U.S. labor market remained on solid ground.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks closed broadly lower after initial gains failed to hold, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notching their fifth straight daily decline, the longest skid since April.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits dropped to an eight-month low of 211,000 last week, below the 222,000 estimate of economists polled by Reuters.

"The labor market has been incredibly resilient and we've seen that continue," said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta. "Overall, the labor market is really what's fueled the consumer, which has held this economy together for the last three years of this fight we've had with inflation."

Wall Street declines were led by the consumer discretionary sector, which dropped 1.27% and was dragged lower by a 6.08% fall in Tesla after the electric vehicle maker reported its first decline in annual deliveries.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 151.95 points, or 0.36%, to 42,392.27, the S&P 500 fell 13.08 points, or 0.22%, to 5,868.55 and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 30.00 points, or 0.16%, to 19,280.79.

European stocks closed higher after a sluggish start to the session, buoyed by a jump in energy names.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe lost 1.72 points, or 0.20%, to 839.70. Europe's STOXX 600 index gained 0.6%.

The dollar jumped to a two-year high on Thursday, building on the strong gains from 2024 as expectations remained intact that economic growth in the U.S. will outpace that of its peers, keeping the Federal Reserve on a slower interest rate-cut path.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,rose 0.67% to 109.27, after climbing to 109.54, its highest since Nov. 10, 2022.

"In terms of 2025 economic growth, there's no rival to the dollar," Adam Button, chief currency analyst at ForexLive in Toronto, said.

"Capital flows dominate the turn of the year and the U.S. stock market has really put to shame every other global market,” Button said. "The dollar is the only game in town until there is a genuine stumble in the U.S. economy."

The euro was down 0.89% at $1.0263 after slumping to $1.0223, its lowest level since Nov. 21, 2022.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.47% to 157.60. Sterling dropped 1.12% to $1.2377 and was on pace for its biggest daily percentage drop since Nov. 6.

Stocks had stumbled heading in to the end of the year, denting a year-long rally fueled by growth expectations surrounding artificial intelligence, anticipated rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, and more recently, the likelihood of deregulation policies from the incoming Trump administration.

However, the recent economic forecast from the Fed, along with worries that President-elect Donald Trump's policies such as tariffs may prove to be inflationary, has sent yields higher and created a stumbling block for equities.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes slipped 1.6 basis points to 4.563%, but remained above the 4.5% mark that analysts see as a problematic level for stocks.

Oil prices advanced, with U.S. crude settling up 1.97% at $73.13 a barrel and Brent climbing to settle at $75.93 per barrel, up 1.73%, on optimism over China's economy and fuel demand after a pledge by President Xi Jinping to promote growth.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak in New York; additional reporting by Karen Brettell in New York, Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis)