In keeping with his campaign promises, US President Donald Trump is forging ahead with plans to slash budgets at several government departments while raising defense spending. According to early leaks ahead of Trump’s remarks set to be delivered during the Asian session, defense spending is set to jump by $54 billion after cuts are made to the State Department, EPA, and other non-defense agencies within the US government.
While details on proposed tax reform and fiscal stimulus measures remaining notably absent from the conversation, financial markets are expecting further details to be unveiled during the upcoming policy speech for Congress. In the meantime, whispers of spending and inflation, positive measures were enough to drive stock benchmarks to fresh intraday records, with Dow futures extending the prior session’s modest gains.
