American and European stocks have reached new record highs

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The US S&P 500 hit a record-high after Netflix’s gains fueled a rally sparked by US President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy announcement.

Large-cap US blue-chip index Shares It rose as much as 0.8 percent by midday in New York, pushing past an intraday high of 6,099.97 on Dec. 6.

The S&P 500 posted its best five-session gain since Trump’s election last week.

Netflix, whose fourth-quarter earnings were published overnight, beat analysts’ forecasts by 11 percent last Wednesday, dragging other tech stocks. Oracle jumped 6 percent after joining other tech titans including OpenAI in announcing plans for a new US artificial intelligence project.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 1.5 percent, off an intraday peak in mid-December.

Wednesday’s gains came as Trump used his first three days in office to threaten new tariffs on U.S. allies and vow to end America’s “downtime.”

Expected cuts in corporate tax rates and financial deregulation fueled investor optimism a week after some of the country’s biggest banks reported sharply higher trading and trading profits.

The Stoxx Europe 600 hit a record high on Wednesday as fears over US tariffs eased and investors bought cheap European shares following strong corporate earnings.

A broader European index rose 0.9 percent to 530.55, helped by gains for some of Europe’s biggest companies, such as Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk and Germany’s Adidas.

It added 0.3 percent after shedding some of its gains.

Frankfurt’s Dax rose 0.9 percent in the afternoon – after hitting a new high – led by a 6.5 percent gain in Adidas following its strong full-year results.

Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management, said: “A risky environment (it was lifting all boats, especially the weakest ones”), helped by other factors, including concerns about US tariffs being reduced slightly.

Despite repeated threats, Trump has not imposed new tariffs on goods from the bloc to the US.

“There is little relief in the view that Trump is more lenient than the market thinks,” said Barclays analyst Emmanuel Kaw.

“The (European) market is not so scared because it makes Trump feel like he’s trying to negotiate,” he said.

London’s FTSE 100 also hit a fresh daily record before reversing lower, down 0.2 percent in the afternoon.

Bank of America’s survey of European fund managers hit record highs this week, showing investors increased their holdings of European equities amid growing concerns over valuations on Wall Street.

Only 19 percent of fund managers were “overweight” U.S. stocks in January, compared with a 36 percent decline the previous month. The shift was the biggest shift from US stocks to euro zone stocks in nearly a decade, the bank said.

Trump said on Tuesday that his administration is considering imposing a 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports as early as next month. He announced on Monday that he would issue a tariff. 25 percent on Mexico and Canada Like February 1st.