Stock market ends just higher. Investors digest Monday's rally on softer Trump tariff plan
U.S. stocks ended just higher after spending the day chopping around either side of unchanged as investors digested Monday's rally on the signs President Donald Trump is softening his tariff threats.
On Monday, Trump said he “may give a lot of countries breaks” on the reciprocal tariffs, which are set to take effect April 2. Earlier reports said tariffs will be targeted on roughly 15% of countries where there are trade imbalances and won't include sector-specific tariffs. That lifted market hopes that an all-out trade war could be avoided.
However, Trump said tariffs on sectors like pharma and autos would still be coming in the “near future,” just maybe not on April 2. He then later added the lumber and semiconductor industries to his tariff list for levies sometime “down the road," which added some ambiguity to the tariff situation.
"Uncertainty on the trade front is set to remain elevated for some time to come, with 2nd (of) April more likely to mark the start, than the end, of this long-running tariff saga," wrote Michael Brown, senior research strategist at online broker Pepperstone, in a note.
The broad S&P 500 inched up 0.16% or 9.08 points, to 5,776.65 to score a third straight day of gains; the blue-chip Dow edged up 0.0098%, or 4.18 points, to 42,587.50; and the tech-heavy Nadaq gained 0.46%, or 83.26 points, to 18,271.86. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield slipped to 4.315%.
Investors mostly shrugged off the Conference Board’s March consumer confidence index, which dropped to a 12-year low of 92.9. That was below the average estimate of economists polled by Dow Jones for 93.5, down from 98.3 in February.
Consumer confidence has been falling lately because of uncertainty around the economy and inflation. If consumers continue to feel gloomy, they could end up spending less and slow down the economy, economists said. Consumers make up about 70% of the economy.
Corporate news
- KB Home missed analysts' earnings and revenue estimates in the first three months of the year and cut its full-year sales outlook. The homebuilder's stock slumped 5.1%.
- Cintas terminated talks to buy UniFirst in a deal valued at $275 per share in cash. UniFirst shares plunged 14.12%
- Cloudflare shares added 2.86% after Bank of America recommended buying the network security firm's stock.
- Tesla sales in the European Union tumbled 47%, the second consecutive month of declines, despite an overall 24% increase in demand for electric vehicles. Shares of the EV giant rose 3.45%.
- McCormick & Company's quarterly profit missed analysts' estimates. Shares of the spice maker dipped 0.15%.
Cryptocurrency
Trump-related entities continue to push into the crypto world.
Trump Media signed an agreement with Crypto.com to launch America-focused exchange-traded funds and products. Shares of Trump Media, operator of Truth Social and majority owned by President Trump, jumped 8.85%.
Also, World Liberty Financial, a crypto project backed by President Trump and his family, said it would launch a new stablecoin backed by U.S. government debt called USD1. The token will be issued on the Ethereum network and a blockchain created by crypto exchange Binance.
Separately, BlackRock is launching a Bitcoin exchanged-traded product in Europe, called iShares Bitcoin ETP, which will list on several exchanges. The move follows a successful launch of a $48 billion U.S. fund tracking Bitcoin.
Bitcoin was last up 0.74% at $88,111.07.
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 morning.