* Wall Street climbs, Nasdaq tops 6,000 mark
* Oil edges up in choppy trade
* Markets await Trump tax announcement on Wednesday (Adds close of European markets)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - Global stock markets rallied for a second consecutive day on Tuesday on solid U.S. earnings, aided by speculation about U.S. tax reform and reduced chances of a U.S. government shutdown this weekend.
Wall Street gained as concerns about France's election waned and investors cheered earnings from companies such as McDonald's Corp MCD.N , up 5.4 percent, and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) CAT.N , up 7.6 percent. The Nasdaq Composite index breached the 6,000 mark for the first time. are leading the train today," said Ken Polcari, director of the NYSE floor division at O'Neil Securities in New York.
"Part of it is just that momentum, you are caught in it but you can't get in front of a moving train, so the momentum is such that you have to let it run."
Markets also maintained the boost from the French election results, with recent opinion polls have centrist Emmanuel Macron, who won with a comfortable lead over far-right, anti-EU candidate Marine Le Pen in a May 7 run-off vote. assets such as gold and the Japanese yen retreated, while the yield gap between French and German short-term government bonds, a closely watched measure of political risk in the euro zone, hit its lowest in almost three months. DE2FR2=RR .
Investor focus shifted to corporate earnings and U.S. President Donald Trump's promise to announce "a big tax reform and tax reduction" on Wednesday. threat of a U.S. government shutdown this weekend appeared to recede on Tuesday after Trump backed away from a demand that Congress include funding for his planned border wall with Mexico in a spending bill. Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 254.13 points, or 1.22 percent, to 21,018.02, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 15.88 points, or 0.67 percent, to 2,390.03 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 45.95 points, or 0.77 percent, to 6,029.77.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 rose 0.21 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS gained 0.65 percent after touching a high of 456.42.
French shares .FCHI closed up 0.2 percent, after a 4.1 percent surge on Monday, their biggest daily gain since August 2012.
The euro EUR= added to Monday's gains against the dollar, up 0.63 percent to $1.0935.
The Canadian dollar CAD= fell 0.6 percent to C$1.3583 per U.S. dollar after the United States announced new duties averaging 20 percent on Canadian softwood lumber imports. Japanese yen weakened 1.26 percent versus the greenback at 111.14 per dollar, while Sterling GBP= was last trading at $1.2826, up 0.26 percent on the day.
Gold, also seen as a safe-haven asset, fell. Spot gold XAU= dropped 0.9 percent to $1,263.26 an ounce. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 fell 0.98 percent to $1,265.00 an ounce. prices edged up in choppy trade on Tuesday as U.S. crude inventory data that was forecast to show a drawdown faced doubts about OPEC's ability to reduce a global glut. crude CLcv1 rose 0.39 percent to $49.42 per barrel and Brent LCOcv1 was last at $51.93, up 0.64 percent on the day.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Global assets in 2017
http://reut.rs/1WAiOSC Global currencies vs. dollar
http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh Global bonds dashboard
http://tmsnrt.rs/2fPTds0 Emerging markets in 2017
http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
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