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Asia, European stocks rise; Wall St futures higher

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House advances Trump's tax cut plans to Senate

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Nvidia's ( NVDA ) earnings in focus

By Samuel Indyk and Rae Wee

LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Global shares rose on

Wednesday after House Republicans advanced U.S. President Donald

Trump's tax cut plans, which also supported the dollar and

helped Treasury yields regain some lost ground.

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives late

on Tuesday narrowly passed Trump's $4.5 trillion tax-cut plan,

sending the budget resolution to the Senate, where Republicans

are expected to take it up.

"It's mainly good for corporate U.S.," said Lars Skovgaard,

senior investment strategist at Danske Bank.

"There's expected to be less regulation and tax cuts. I

would expect it to happen and then it will be positive for

markets if they do so."

Sentiment also improved after reports that the U.S. and

Ukraine agreed terms on a draft minerals deal.

U.S. stock futures rebounded after a mixed session on Wall

Street, with Nasdaq futures rising 0.8%, while S&P 500

futures gained 0.5%.

European shares rose for a second day, with the

pan-continental STOXX 600 up 0.7% and blue-chip indexes

in Frankfurt, Paris and London rising

between 0.7% and 1.1%.

"(The plan) moved through just a little bit quicker than

people were expecting," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at

IG.

U.S. Treasury yields rose slightly as investors anticipate

more debt issuance ahead, with the benchmark 10-year yield

up 1.5 basis points to 4.311%, having fallen almost

10 bps on Tuesday.

The two-year yield, which is sensitive to changes

in Federal Reserve rate expectations, similarly rose about 2 bps

to 4.112%.

Yields had fallen to their lowest in months in the previous

session as traders ramped up bets of more Fed rate cuts this

year on growing concerns over the outlook for the world's

largest economy.

Data on Tuesday showed U.S. consumer confidence deteriorated

at its sharpest pace in 3-1/2 years in February - the latest in

a string of surveys suggesting that businesses and consumers

were becoming increasingly rattled by the Trump administration's

policies.

Fed funds futures now point to 55 bps of easing priced in by

year-end, implying at least two quarter-point cuts, up from

about 40 bps a week ago.

Meanwhile, U.S. copper prices surged more than 4%

after Trump on Tuesday ordered a probe into potential new

tariffs on copper imports.

In currency markets, the dollar regained some ground after

falling to its lowest since December 10 earlier this week.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against

six peers, was up 0.2%.

Against the yen, it traded 0.2% higher at 149.27,

thanks to the rebound in U.S. Treasury yields.

The euro eased 0.1% to $1.0499, but was not far

from a one-month high. Sterling was similarly near a

two-month top and last bought $1.2656.

Brent futures were up 0.3% to $73.22 a barrel having

fallen more than 2% in the previous session, while U.S. West

Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 0.4% to $69.19 per

barrel, reversing some of Tuesday's 2.5% slump.

Gold was little changed at $2,915 an ounce.

NVIDIA EARNINGS AWAITED

Artificial intelligence poster child Nvidia ( NVDA ) reports

its quarterly earnings later on Wednesday, which could offer

clarity on demand and justify the sector's lofty valuations.

Investor scepticism has grown over the billions that U.S.

tech firms have channelled into AI infrastructure due to slow

payoffs and breakthroughs at China's DeepSeek.

"Any signs of weakness in Nvidia's ( NVDA ) report could have

outsized effects on investor sentiment towards AI stocks as a

whole," said Saxo's global head of investment strategy Jacob

Falkencrone.

"This earnings report isn't just about Nvidia ( NVDA ) ... it's about

whether the AI revolution can maintain its breakneck pace."

Some of Europe's most popular AI-linked stocks tumbled this

week after an analyst note flagged a possible slowdown by

Microsoft ( MSFT ) on data centre leasing, knocking sentiment in

the sector.

An index of "Magnificent Seven" stocks, which

includes Nvidia ( NVDA ), fell 2.5% on Tuesday to its lowest since

November 27.