Sawt Falasteen - Markets stall, inflation and bitcoin rise amid Trump fears

The prospect of higher prices on the back of Trump's planned tax cuts, import tariffs and an easing of regulations gave fresh impetus to the dollar, which has rallied since the Republican's election win last week.

Adding to concerns on the impending transfer of White House power, key US October consumer price data saw a 2.6-percent rise, up from 2.4 percent in September, the Labor Department said.

Although the figure was in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, the data complicates the US Federal Reserve's plans to cut interest rates, even if it remains broadly on track to slow the rate of price increases, EY chief economist Gregory Daco told AFP.

"It’s particularly pertinent given concerns that Trump’s tariff policies will be inflationary," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"If prices are already looking unruly, expectations will rise for Trump's threats to be watered down."

For Srijan Katyal, global head of strategy and trading services at ADSS brokerage, "this (inflation data) reading has slightly disrupted the disinflationary pattern we have seen in the last few months but continues to remain stable around the targeted level".

Yet, given Trump's election victory, "inflation worries could return to markets," Katyal said.

As inflation edged up, bitcoin, the world's premier cryptocurrency, soared to fresh heights in topping $90,000, hitting an all-time peak above $91,000 before easing to $90,670.

Trump has notably pledged to ease regulation around digital tokens.

Wall Street lacked direction in early trading as traders digested the inflation data.

Its three main indices had finished in the red Tuesday as investors took a breather from a week-long rally to more record highs, with the Dow barely in the green and the tech heavy Nasdaq off 0.2 percent.

Major European indices all were trading down some two hours out from the close, although Siemens Energy shares surged more than 15 percent after the German company posted positive annual results and upgraded its outlook.

Asian markets mostly ended lower as Trump named known China hawks to key cabinet positions, fuelling concerns about another debilitating trade war between the economic superpowers.

"We expect the effective tariff rate on US imports from China to rise to around 40 percent," said Harry Murphy Cruise at Moody's Analytics.

"That would effectively double the rate today," he told AFP.

Cruise said, "China would almost certainly follow suit."

The threat of another standoff comes as Beijing struggles to kickstart growth at home, unveiling a raft of measures at the end of September but leaving traders disappointed.

China's state media on Wednesday reported that Beijing had announced a raft of tax policies aimed at boosting the country's ailing property market.

- Key figures around 1445 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 43,948.32 points

New York - S&P 500: FLAT 0.2 percent at 5,982.53

New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 19,243.48

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,008.47

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.7 percent at 7,179.08

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.8 percent at 18,890.76

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.7 percent at 38,721.66 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.1 percent at 19,823.45 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,439.28 (close)

Dollar/yen: UP at 154.98 yen from 154.59 yen on Tuesday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0617 from $1.0625

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2741 from $1.2748

Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.31 pence from 83.34 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.0 percent at $71.21 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.0 percent at $67.45 per barrel

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