The National Times - US stocks hit fresh records as European bourses retreat

All three major US indices pushed to records, with the S&P 500 ending up around 4.7 percent for the week.

"We're in this honeymoon period between Election Day and Inauguration Day, which we saw in previous election cycles," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Capital Management.

Ablin thinks the strength in US equities could extend through the rest of 2024, but cautioned that worries about overvaluation will grow if the market keeps rising.

But Europe's main stock markets closed in the red, with Frankfurt also digesting the collapse of the German government coalition and Paris hit by falling luxury shares.

"It has been an eventful week in the markets and markets are still continuing to digest what Trump's big victory means for the dollar and other risk assets," said City Index and Forex.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.

Analysts say US president-elect Donald Trump's planned tax cuts and import tariffs could rekindle inflation in the United States and beyond, which could in turn see the Federal Reserve scale back on interest-rate cuts.

"(Fed) news which ordinarily would have drawn a lot of the market's focus has been pushed down the agenda as attention is turned to the implications of Donald Trump's return to the White House," noted Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell trading group.

Chinese stocks ended lower ahead of fresh announcements aimed at stimulating China's struggling economy.

China unveiled some of its most ambitious plans in years to lift local government debt following a meeting of lawmakers eyeing the possibility of intensified trade tensions with Trump.

Chinese media said officials in Beijing would raise the debt ceiling for local governments by $840 billion.

"The market reaction shows that traders do not see these measures as boosting consumption, and instead they are designed to stop a financial crisis domestically in China," concluded Kathleen Brooks, research director at traders XTB.

It came amid uncertainty about the outlook for China after the election of Trump, who warned during his campaign that he would hit imports from the country with huge tariffs of up to 60 percent.

"On balance, it is likely that Trump's electoral victory presents additional downward pressure to China's growth in the next few years (depending on various policy responses in both the US and China)," said National Australia Bank's Gerard Burg.

China's economic slowdown has hit sales at luxury companies, with Cartier owner Richemont posting a big drop in profit on Friday.

Its shares fell 6.6 percent on the Swiss stock exchange while Gucci owner Kering dropped almost eight percent and LVMH, the world's biggest luxury company, shed 3.3 percent in Paris.

- Key figures around 2230 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.6 percent at 43,988.99 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.4 percent at 5,995.54 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.1 percent at 19,286.78 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.8 percent at 8,072.39 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 1.2 percent at 7,338.67 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.8 percent at 19,215.48 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 39,500.37 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.1 percent at 20,728.19 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,452.30 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0724 from $1.0805 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2921 from $1.2987

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 152.62 yen from 152.94 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 82.95 pence from 83.19 pence

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.7 percent at $70.38 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.3 percent at $73.87 per barrel

P.Murphy--TNT