Stocks close higher, dollar steady before Trump speech

By Sinead Carew

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street closed slightly higher on Monday and U.S. Treasury yields rose on hopes for rising rates and expectations for an infrastructure spending announcement in U.S. President Donald Trump's speech Tuesday night.

Oil futures were a mixed bag as the prospect of rising U.S. production offset reports of compliance with an OPEC production cut agreement.

While many investors were hoping Trump would unveil details of pro-business policies including tax reform, cash repatriation or infrastructure spending during his address to Congress Tuesday night, others were not ready to make new bets as they worried that the speech would disappoint.

Trump said earlier in the day that he would issue a big statement on infrastructure during his speech on Tuesday, but also said tax reform details would not be revealed until after the administration's proposal on healthcare.

"Investors want something concrete on corporate taxes or repatriation. They're more focused on that than the affordable care act, but the first focus of the administration is ACA," said Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James Financial in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> rose 15.68 points, or 0.08 percent, to 20,837.44, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 2.39 points, or 0.10 percent, to 2,369.73 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 16.59 points, or 0.28 percent, to 5,861.90.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average scaled its 12th consecutive record high, its longest such run since 1987.

Benchmark 10-year notes were last down 13/32 in price to yield 2.363 percent, from a yield of 2.317 percent late Friday. Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said the U.S. central bank might need to raise interest rates in the near future to avoid falling behind the curve on inflation.

“What the market reacted to was a combination of (Kaplan’s comments) with the fact that we might be getting signs that legislation may be sooner rather than later on things like tax reform and infrastructure, and that’s all very growth-positive," said Priya Misra, head of global rates strategy at TD Securities in New York.

The dollar <.DXY> was up 0.05 percent against a basket of major currencies ahead of Trump's speech and comments from Federal Reserve officials also expected this week.

The greenback reversed earlier weakness and the Japanese yen weakened, indicating a perception that a rate hike is more likely in coming months.

"I’d say the fundamental driver is interest rate differentials,” said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.

MSCI's benchmark world stock index was unchanged <.MIWD00000PUS> after it hit a record high Thursday. Europe's benchmark index of leading 300 shares <.FTEU3> fell 0.2 percent.

In commodities, Brent crude settled down 0.1 percent at $55.93 per barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate settled up 0.1 percent at $54.05 per barrel as a global supply glut appeared to ease.

Spot gold turned down 0.4 percent to $1,251.3 an ounce, as its inability to hold above the 200-day moving average was a source of technical weakness. The precious metal had risen to $1,263.80 earlier in the day, its highest since Nov. 11.

(Additional Reporting by Sam Forgione, Caroline Valetkevitch and Karen Brettell in New York, Jamie McGeever in London; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski)

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