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European shares hit record on strong earnings, US-Ukraine

deal

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House advances Trump's tax cut plans to Senate

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Nvidia ( NVDA ) to post earnings after the bell

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Trump set to announce EU tariffs soon

By Stephen Culp, Chris Prentice and Samuel Indyk

NEW YORK, Feb 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks wobbled on

Wednesday amid fresh tariff threats while a draft U.S.-Ukraine

deal on critical minerals and robust corporate earnings helped

European shares close at a record high.

Global shares also gained and benchmark Treasury yields

looked set to notch their sixth straight day of declines, while

the U.S. dollar rose after House Republicans advanced U.S.

President Donald Trump's tax cut plans.

Artificial intelligence poster child Nvidia ( NVDA )

reports its quarterly earnings later on Wednesday, which could

offer clarity on demand and justify or undercut the sector's

lofty valuations.

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

tech firms have channelled into AI infrastructure due to slow

payoffs and to 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.

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."

U.S. housing data showed the sales of new homes fell sharply

in January as persistently high mortgage rates sidelined

potential homebuyers.

The data is the latest to hint at dampening consumer demand.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 165.41 points,

or 0.37%, to 43,457.58, the S&P 500 fell 3.69 points, or

0.06%, to 5,951.60, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 4.39

points, or 0.03%, to 19,030.78.

European sentiment improved after reports that the U.S. and

Ukraine agreed terms of a draft minerals deal, sending European

shares up for a second straight day to an all-time closing high.

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

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

IG.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose

1.82 points, or 0.21%, to 868.56.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.99%, while

Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 22.22

points, or 1.01%.

Emerging market stocks rose 13.05 points, or

1.16%, to 1,135.43. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares

outside Japan closed higher by 1.2%, to 596.37,

while Japan's Nikkei fell 95.42 points, or 0.25%, to

38,142.37.

Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields reversed earlier gains

amid new tariff uncertainties.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes

fell 4 basis points to 4.258%, from 4.298% late on Tuesday.

The 30-year bond yield fell 3.8 basis points to

4.5177% from 4.556% late on Tuesday.

A part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve that is watched by

some analysts as a possible recession indicator inverted for the

first time since mid-December as concerns about U.S. economic

growth and a more optimistic picture on longer-term debt

issuance plans pull longer-dated yields lower. The spread

between yields on two-year and five-year U.S. Treasuries briefly

traded negative.

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.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,

rose 0.2% to 106.45, with the euro down 0.25% at $1.0487.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.08% to

148.9.

Oil prices touched a two-month low after a surprise build-up

in U.S. stockpiles and the growing potential for a

Ukraine-Russia peace deal weighed on prices.

U.S. crude dropped 0.45% to settle at $68.62 per

barrel, while Brent settled at $72.53 per barrel, down

0.67% on the day.

Gold prices were subdued after a recent record rally, while

investors looked to inflation data on Friday and digested

Trump's latest tariff plans.

Spot gold rose 0.02% to $2,915.32 an ounce. U.S.

gold futures rose 0.33% to $2,914.10 an ounce.