Reuters

World stock markets wavered just below recent record highs while U.S. Treasury yields held near multi-month peaks on Thursday as the final procedural throes of long-awaited U.S. tax reform played out in Washington.

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday was expected to give final approval to a sweeping tax bill and send it to President Donald Trump to sign into law, sealing his first major legislative victory in office.

Asian shares fell on Wednesday, taking their cues from Wall Street with investor enthusiasm toward U.S. tax changes ebbing as the long-awaited reform bill wound its way through Congress.

Germany’s longest-dated bonds led a sell-off in euro zone debt markets on Tuesday following a rise in the country’s issuance plans for 2018.

U.S. single-family homebuilding and permits surged to more than 10-year highs in November, in a hopeful sign for a housing market that has been hobbled by supply constraints.

A series of recent cyber attacks has netted North Korean hackers millions of dollars in virtual currencies like bitcoin, with more attacks expected as international sanctions drive the country to seek new sources of cash, researchers say.

World stocks steadied on Tuesday after their biggest jump in almost six-months on U.S. tax cut hopes had added to what is already one of the strongest and longest global bull runs on record.

Oil markets edged up on Tuesday as the Forties pipeline outage in the North Sea and voluntary production restraint led by OPEC supported prices, although soaring output in the United States put a cap on gains.

Asian stocks advanced on Tuesday after a record-setting session on Wall Street on bets that U.S. lawmakers would pass sweeping tax legislation, while the dollar was tentative as traders were circumspect about the bill’s economic impact.

The World Bank on Tuesday raised its forecast for China’s economic growth in 2017 to 6.8 percent from 6.7 percent it projected in October, as personal consumption and foreign trade supported growth.