NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - Global stocks were slightly higher on Tuesday, after a sharp rally in the prior session on hopes U.S. President Donald Trump would take a more measured approach on tariffs than feared, while the dollar eased from a three-week high.
European shares led the gains, while stocks on Wall Street were modestly higher after strong gains in the prior session after Trump indicated that not all of his threatened levies would be imposed on April 2 and some countries may get breaks.
U.S. stocks pared some gains after a reading on consumer confidence from the Conference Board fell, 7.2 points to 92.9 in March, below the 94.0 estimate, the latest in a string of sentiment readings that have shown cooling.
"Confidence and sentiment continue to wane, this likely reflects the political divide in America," said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
"Consumers will likely still do what they do best, consume. There are some people trying to stock up on goods ahead of possible tariffs, but they’re likely in the vocal and visible minority."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), rose 39.07 points, or 0.09%, to 42,622.39, the S&P 500 (.SPX), rose 13.66 points, or 0.24%, to 5,781.23 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), rose 54.78 points, or 0.30%, to 18,243.37.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS), rose 2.45 points, or 0.29%, to 854.18 while the pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX), index climbed 0.72%, buoyed by a survey from the Ifo institute that showed German business morale rose in March.
Stocks have shown signs of bottoming in recent days, after coming under pressure due to uncertainty over the tariff outlook and the potential to slow the global economy and dent corporate profits.
The dollar index , which has strengthened on the tariff expectations and which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.17% to 104.12 after climbing to a three-week high of 104.46.
The euro was up 0.05% at $1.0805.
Against the Japanese yen , the dollar weakened 0.6% to 149.79 while sterling strengthened 0.15% to $1.2938.
U.S. Treasury yields were slightly lower as investors also assessed the impact tariffs could have on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.
Fed Governor Adriana Kugler said the central bank's current policy remains restrictive and well-positioned, but progress towards the 2% inflation goal has slowed and the latest move higher in goods inflation data is "unhelpful."
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said firms and households are “experiencing heightened uncertainty” about what lies ahead for the economy.
The comments come after Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said on Monday he only sees one cut of 25 basis points from the Fed this year.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 0.4 basis points to 4.327%.
Crude prices were up for a fifth straight session on the possibility global supply may decrease after Trump on Monday announced tariffs on countries that buy Venezuelan crude, although gains were capped on the likelihood that OPEC+ would go ahead with plans to hike output in May.
U.S. crude rose 0.42% to $69.41 a barrel and Brent rose to $73.35 per barrel, up 0.48% on the day.
Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Sharon Singleton
