Stocks, dollar dip as Trump passes spending bill, deal deadline looms

The dollar also fell against major currencies, with US markets already shut for the holiday-shortened week, as traders considered the impact of Trump's sweeping spending bill

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Stocks slipped on Friday as US President Donald Trump got his signature tax cut bill over the line and attention turned to his July 9 deadline for countries to secure trade deals with the world's biggest economy.

The dollar also fell against major currencies, with US markets already shut for the holiday-shortened week, as traders considered the impact of Trump's sweeping spending bill that is expected to add an estimated $3.4 trillion to the national debt.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.5%, with banks, mining-related stocks and retailers among the top laggards.

US S&P 500 futures edged down 0.6%, following a 0.8% overnight advance for the cash index to an all-time closing peak. Wall Street was closed on Friday for the Independence Day holiday.

Trump said Washington would start sending letters to countries on Friday specifying what tariff rates they would face on exports to the United States, a clear shift from earlier pledges to strike scores of individual deals before a July 9 deadline when tariffs could rise sharply.

Investors are “now just waiting for July 9”, said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG, with the market's lack of optimism for trade deals responsible for some of the equity weakness in export-reliant Asia, particularly Japan and South Korea.

At the same time, investors cheered a surprisingly robust US jobs report on Thursday, sending all three of the main US equity indexes climbing in a shortened session.