* Trump calls long-awaited stimulus bill a “shame”
* S&P 500 futures shrink; Shares in Asia are winning anyway
* Concerns about the mutation of the virus weigh on goods, say the dollar
SINGAPORE, 23 dec. (Reuters) – Futures plummeted and commodities fell on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump threw a last-minute key into pandemic relief plans, although Asian stocks rose as traders looked at fears of a new infectious strain of coronavirus.
In a video posted on Twitter, Trump said a stimulus bill, agreed after months of fighting in Congress, is “a disgrace” and that he wants to increase the “ridiculously small” checks of $ 600 for people at $ 2,000.
The possibility of delaying such long-awaited and struggling spending plans has lowered the S&P 500 futures by up to 1% below the index’s close on Tuesday, although they have returned to around 0.3% below the close.
FTSE futures fell 0.2% and EuroSTOXX 50 futures fell 0.1%, while oil futures fell 1.5% to re-test Monday’s lows when concerns of coronavirus led to a sudden sale.
Treasuries also got a bid, with the US Treasury’s ten-year ten-year futures rising in the Asian session and the yield on 10-year US government bonds fell one basis point.
“We personally believe that the president will sign the bill at the last possible moment,” Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at NatAlliance, said in an emailed note following Trump’s message.
“But the real star of reality will wait until the end,” he said. “The bond markets close at 14:00 on Thursday, while the shares close at 13:00 – it may go down at the last minute.”
Some traders said Trump’s effort to stimulate more could lead to increased spending.
The bill could be changed if congressional leadership wants to do so, and if not, Trump’s election is to sign the bill, veto it or do nothing, and let it become law.
Incentive funds are needed as recovery stalls in the US and hospitals are struggling to cope with a nationwide rise in infections, along with an even more contagious variant of the coronavirus, which is spreading rapidly in England.
The US dollar clung to Tuesday’s gains in the thin trade, although signs that a small virus outbreak in Sydney could be limited gave the Australian dollar a small boost.
Asian stock markets gained broad, albeit uneven, gains as investors focused on domestic economic strengths.
The broadest MSCI index of Asia-Pacific equities outside of Japan fell three days, down 0.6%, driven by rising electric vehicle stocks in South Korea and China, after LG Electronics announced a production agreement.
Shares of technology and healthcare pushed the Nikkei in Japan by 0.3% more, and shares of Australia rose by 0.7%, although volumes were fairly light.
With a handful of trading days remaining in 2020, investors are still wondering whether the UK and the European Union can agree on a post-Brexit trade deal and what the new virus strain will have on vaccinations.
ITV’s political editor said in a late-night tweet that separate sources raised the possibility of Britain and the European Union reaching a trade deal on Wednesday.
The pound rose above $ 1.3400 in Asia and was last at $ 1.3406 and 90.88 pence bought a euro. The dollar index was flat at 90,465.
Brent crude futures fell 1.5 percent to $ 49.34 a barrel, and U.S. crude futures fell 1.5 percent to $ 46.33.
Gold suffered losses after Tuesday’s dollar gains and was largely constant at $ 1,864 an ounce. (Reporting by Tom Westbrook in Singapore. Additional reporting by Megan Davies John McCrank in New York; Editing by Richard Pullin and Christian Schmollinger)