* Graphic: Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Marc Jones
LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - World stocks racked up record
highs on Thursday and the dollar fell, as investors bet major
stimulus from new U.S. President Joe Biden and unswerving global
central bank support would cushion the coronavirus's economic
damage.
Europe's traders hoisted the FTSE .FTSE , DAX .GDAXI and
CAC 40 .FCHI 0.2% to 0.4% higher .EU and pushed up the euro
again EUR= /FRX as they also waited for the European Central
Bank's first policy meeting of the year.
With Wall Street .N and Asian stocks both reaching new
highs overnight, MSCI's global index covering nearly 50
countries .MIWD00000PUS added 0.3% to its 76% surge since last
year's COVID crash.
Republicans in the U.S. Congress have indicated they are
willing to work with Biden on his administration's top priority,
a $1.9 trillion U.S. fiscal-stimulus plan. Some remain opposed
to the price tag, but the final amount is still expected to be
worth at least 5% of U.S. gross domestic product.
"Biden has got the benefit of the doubt as far as markets
are concerned and has had for some time," said Shamik Dhar,
chief economist at BNY Mellon investment management.
"The benefit of higher stimulus is viewed as outweighing any
negative impacts of higher corporate taxes and regulation. And I
think they are right to think that. Monetary policy is also
likely to remain loose," he said.
Bond yields barely budged, with debt markets now focusing on
the ECB's meeting, which comes against a backdrop of ongoing
challenges.
The bank will announce its rate decision at 1245 GMT and is
widely expected to keep its key "deposit" interest rate at
-0.5%, after boosting its 1.85 trillion-euro emergency bond-
buying programme by 500 billion euros ($606.30 billion) in
December.
Since then, many European countries, including France and
Germany, have tightened coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Vaccination programmes have also been slow to ramp up, adding to
the doubts over the speed of economic recovery.
"We don't expect many fireworks from the European Central
Bank 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.
The dollar was off 0.14% against the yen JPY= at 103.37
after the Bank of Japan left its policies unchanged overnight.
The broader dollar index =USD was down 0.17% to 90.254, while
benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR yielded
1.0785%, down from a U.S. close of 1.09% on Wednesday.
Wall Street's latest highs had been helped by tech shares
again. Netflix NFLX.O had said it would no longer need to
borrow billions of dollars to finance its TV shows and movies,
prompting a near 17% surge in its shares. With the rest of the so-called FAANG group scheduled to
report results in the coming weeks, Google parent Alphabet
GOOGL.O had jumped 5.3%. In commodity markets, oil prices eased on an unexpected rise
in U.S. crude stockpiles, though hopes for an economic revival
kept losses in check. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1
dipped 0.24% to $53.18 a barrel. Brent crude LCOc1 fell 0.16%
to $55.99 per barrel.
Spot gold XAU= rose 0.15% to $1,873.77 per ounce. GOL/
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For multimedia coverage please open https://www.reuters.com/world/us
in a separate browser
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Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country World Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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