S&P 500 climbs to 2-week high, Dow adds nearly 600 pts after Trump softens tariff stance
U.S. stocks rallied, with the broad S&P 500 index climbing to a two-week high, after President Donald Trump confirmed he would narrow the scope of tariffs he plans to impose on April 2.
Trump had planned to enact widespread tariffs, including reciprocal tariffs, against longtime trading partners, but now, those tariffs will likely be narrower than originally threatened. Trump said late Monday afternoon that he may give “a lot of countries” breaks on reciprocal tariffs.
Earlier reports said tariffs will be targeted on roughly 15% of countries where there are trade imbalances and won't include sector-specific tariffs, reports said. However, Trump said tariffs on sectors like pharma and autos would still be coming in the “near future,” just maybe not on April 2.
Even though sector tariffs remain on the table, Trump's backpedaling comes as a relief to investors and economists who feared an all-out trade war would fuel inflation and weaken the economy.
The blue-chip Dow jumped 1.42%, or 597.97points, to 42,583.32; the broad S&P 500 advanced 1.76%, or 101.01 points, to 5,767.57 ; and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rallied 2.27%, or 404.54 points, to 18,188.59. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.338%
Oil prices rose after Trump said on Monday the U.S. will impose 25% tariffs on countries that buy oil and gas from Venezuela.
Corporate news
- SuperMicro Computer shares dipped 1.02% after Goldman Sachs recommended selling the stock.
- 23andMe on Sunday filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. after struggling with the fallout of a data breach and weak demand for its ancestry testing kits. Shares of the DNA testing compay plunged 59.22%.
- Pinterest shares rose 5% after Guggenheim recommended buying shares of the virtual bulletin board company.
- Chevron won an extension from the Treasury Department to continue pumping oil in Venezuela until May 27. The oil giant's shares edged up 0.16%.
- Dun and Bradstreet shares gained 2.98% after the data and analytics provider agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Clearlake Capital in a $7.7 billion deal.
Cryptocurrency
On Sunday, Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor posted on X a bitcoin chart suggesting he may be contemplating buying more bictoin.
Bitcoin was last up 2.74% at $88,381.17.
This story was updated with new information.
Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at Paste BN. You can reach her at mjlee@usatoday.com and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday.