Overnight US stocks | The three major indexes closed higher, and Bitcoin once approached the $70,000 mark. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) rose more than 3% in after-hours trading.

On Wednesday, the three major indexes closed up and Bitcoin once again approached the $70,000 mark. Fitch Ratings said that after 10% tariffs replaced tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the effective tax rate in the United States dropped to 9.4%. [US stocks] As of the close, the Dow Jones rose 307.65 points, or 0.63%, to 49482.15 points; the Nasdaq rose 288.40 points, or 1.26%, to 23152.08 points; the S&P 500 rose 56.06 points, or 0.81%, to 6946.13 points. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) rose 1.4%, rising more than 3% after announcing earnings after hours, Circle (CRCL.US) rose 35%, and Western Digital Corporation (WDC.US) rose 7.5%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon Index fell 0.48%, XPeng, Inc. ADR Sponsored Class A (XPEV.US) fell nearly 3%. [European stocks] Germany's DAX30 index rose 153.73 points, or 0.61%, to 25175.38 points; the UK's FTSE 100 index rose 115.21 points, or 1.08%, to 10795.80 points; France's CAC40 index rose 39.86 points, or 0.47%, to 8559.07 points; the European Stoxx 50 index rose 56.76 points, or 0.93%, to 6173.36 points; Spain's IBEX35 index rose 255.81 points, or 1.41%, to 18445.31 points; Italy's FTSE MIB index rose 488.78 points, or 1.05%, to 47140.50 points. [Cryptocurrencies] Bitcoin surged nearly 8%, reaching $69,141.45; Ethereum rose over 14%, reaching $2,111.69. [US Dollar Index] The US dollar index, which measures the dollar against six major currencies, fell 0.15% on the day, closing at 97.700 in the forex market. At the end of the New York forex market, 1 euro exchanged for $1.1805, higher than the previous trading day's $1.1779; 1 pound exchanged for $1.3551, higher than the previous trading day's $1.3502. 1 US dollar exchanged for 156.44 yen, higher than the previous trading day's 155.78 yen; 1 US dollar exchanged for 0.7729 Swiss francs, lower than the previous trading day's 0.7735 Swiss francs; 1 US dollar exchanged for 1.3678 Canadian dollars, lower than the previous trading day's 1.3704 Canadian dollars; 1 US dollar exchanged for 9.0219 Swedish kronor, lower than the previous trading day's 9.0449 Swedish kronor. [Crude Oil] New York Mercantile Exchange's light crude oil futures for delivery in April fell 21 cents to close at $65.42 per barrel, a decrease of 0.32%; London Brent crude oil futures for delivery in April rose 8 cents to close at $70.85 per barrel, an increase of 0.11%. [Metals] Spot gold rose 9% to $5,168.92, while spot silver was at $89.245. [Macro News] New York Fed: Decline in attractiveness of government bonds is leading to rise in "natural rate." Researchers at the New York Fed said that a key interest rate globally is rising, and the main reason appears to be the diminishing attractiveness of government bonds in terms of safety and liquidity. The so-called "natural rate" (or r-star, the short-term interest rate at which the economy is at full employment and stable inflation) has shown a "statistically significant increase" since 2019, rising by about 1 percentage point in the United States and other advanced economies. The waning interest of investors in government bonds as safe assets may account for half of the rise in this rate. Although the natural rate exists only in theory, its importance is significant because it is a crucial reference for central banks in setting market rates. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell once likened it to "Polaris Inc.," a star that sailors rely on for navigation. Boston Fed: Independence of the Federal Reserve has been eroded. Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said on Wednesday that the rift between the Federal Reserve and the White House has begun to erode public trust in the central bank's politically independent status. This is one of the most direct warnings yet from a senior monetary policy official about the consequences of President Trump's hard-line stance against the Fed. In a farewell article he wrote before retiring from the Boston Fed at the end of February, Rosengren said that his colleagues within the Fed system are still committed to keeping their work separate from politics. "But our visits over the past few months have made it clear that the legal and rhetorical sparring surrounding the central bank has begun to make people from all walks of life question the Fed's independence, which is cause for serious concern." Rosengren is not the only Fed official this year to emphasize the importance of central bank independence, but no one has directly warned as he did on Wednesday that the current series of controversies could undermine public trust in the institution. Fed's Schmid: Inflation remains a key issue for the Federal Reserve. Fed's Schmid said on Wednesday that high inflation remains a key issue that the Federal Reserve needs to address, but he did not explicitly state how monetary policy should respond. Schmid said, "I think we still have work to do on inflation," while "I think the employment situation is pretty good." He did not elaborate on how these factors affect his view of the monetary policy outlook. Schmid had been skeptical of the Fed's push for rate cuts last year, when officials lowered the target rate range to 3.5% to 3.75%. The market expects the Fed to further cut rates this year, but officials have provided little guidance. Schmid also talked about the Fed's balance sheet, saying internal discussions are focused on understanding the appropriate level of reserves needed for the financial system. He noted that the large holdings of mortgage-backed securities from past bond purchases by the Fed are still depressing housing borrowing costs. Due to the scale of the Fed's holdings of mortgage-backed securities, mortgage rates "may be 75 to 100 basis points lower than they would be otherwise." Media: Tech giants to commit to self-built power supply to control energy costs. According to the media, top executives from tech companies will meet with President Trump at the White House in March and commit to self-building power supplies for new data centers to avoid taxpayers bearing additional energy costs. White House spokesperson Tyler Rogers Corporation said on Wednesday, "Major tech companies will meet with President Trump next week at the White House to formally sign the 'Electricity Price Protection Pledge' he announced in his State of the Union address. Under this initiative, these large companies will self-build, introduce, or purchase electricity supplies for new artificial intelligence data centers to ensure that electricity bills for the American people do not rise as demand grows." Companies participating in the March 4 event include Amazon.com, Inc., Alphabet Inc. Class C, Meta, Microsoft Corporation, xAI, Oracle Corporation, and OpenAI. Trump, U.S. Energy Corp. Secretary Wright, and presidential assistant and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratzios are leading this initiative. EU believes Trump's imposition of tariffs violates agreements. According to reports, Trump's new tariff plan will subject European exports worth around 4.2 billion to higher tariffs than the 15% limit agreed upon in the EU-US trade agreement. Sources familiar with the EU's assessment of tariff rates revealed that Trump's new policy will raise tariffs on European exports, including cheese, butter, some agricultural products, and a few plastic products, textiles, and chemicals, to levels higher than the maximum allowed. The tariff rates on other products, like some spirits, will be lower than 15%. When asked about Trump's latest tariffs, European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill reiterated that "EU products must continue to enjoy the most favourable treatment and not face higher tariffs beyond the clearly and comprehensively agreed upper limit." He added that under the new tariff regime, about 7% of EU exports will be subject to rates above the 15% maximum limit. EU Trade Commissioner Shevchovich has held multiple discussions with U.S. Trade Representative Gril and Commerce Secretary Lutnik to discuss the impact of the Supreme Court ruling. Gril said the U.S. needs some time to comply with the agreement. "We may need two to three months to make sure we adjust tariffs in a way that complies with the commitments made in the agreement," Gril said on Wednesday. [Stock News] NVIDIA Corporation Q4 Earnings Report Impressive, Company Says Demand for Compute Power Remains Strong. NVIDIA Corporation's (NVDA.US) Q4 fiscal year 2026 revenue ($68.1 billion) and data center revenue ($62.3 billion) both exceeded market expectations, and once again provided an optimistic sales forecast, indicating that large-scale artificial intelligence computing infrastructure is still on track. The company said in a statement that sales for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027 will reach approximately $78 billion, with Wall Street's average expectation at $72.6 billion. CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement, "Our customers are racing to invest in AI computing." This outlook helps alleviate concerns in the market about a bubble in AI investment. Huang has repeatedly played down concerns that the growth in AI hardware spending is unsustainable. Wednesday's report provides some evidence that short-term concerns may have been exaggerated. NVIDIA Corporation rose more than 3% in after-hours trading on the U.S. stock market.