Wall Street ends up, but Trump tariff speech sends futures lower
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US stock indexes finished higher after a choppy trading session on Wednesday (Apr 2), falling early and then rebounding as investors made last-minute bets to position themselves ahead of US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff announcements.
Trump began speaking after Wall Street closed, and both S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures reversed gains as investors blanched at his sweeping tariff plans. S&P 500 futures were 1.6 percent lower as he spoke, with Nasdaq futures down 2.4 percent.
This suggested investors expect deep losses when Wall Street opens on Thursday.
Trump's sweeping orders included imposing a 10 percent baseline tariff on all imports to the US and higher duties on some of the country's biggest trading partners.
Volatility has gripped US markets in recent weeks as investors speculated about the scope of tariffs and their impact on the global economy, inflation and corporate earnings.
The CBOE Volatility Index known as Wall Street's fear gauge, has remained for the last three sessions around a level last seen in mid-March. Trading in that index closes at 4:15.
Some tariffs, including on steel, aluminum and autos, had already been announced, although Trump unveiled the specifics of his tariff policy during a White House Rose Garden ceremony at 4 pm ET (4 am, Singapore time).
"Words from presidents matter," said Christopher Wolfe, president and chief investment officer of Pennington Partners & Co. "They can, and do, change policy and the way corporate America responds to things. That's the weight we are all feeling now."
Ahead of the speech, Wolfe said much of the markets' response would depend on whether investors viewed it as a measured economic policy shift or a string of seemingly arbitrary tariffs that risk unintended consequences.
Before Trump began speaking, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 235.36 points, or 0.56 percent, to close at 42,225.32, the S&P 500 gained 37.90 points, or 0.67 percent, to 5,670.97, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 151.16 points, or 0.87 percent, to 17,601.05.
Big-tech names offered support to benchmarks on Wednesday.
Tesla jumped 5.3 percent after Politico reported that Trump has told members of his Cabinet and other close contacts that his billionaire ally Elon Musk, CEO of the electric vehicle maker, will soon step back from his government role.
This helped reverse earlier declines triggered when Tesla reported a 13 percent drop in first-quarter deliveries.
Its advance helped the consumer discretionary index, which rose 2 percent, the best performing of the 11 S&P sectors. Tesla fell during Trump's speech after the bell.
Among other Magnificent Seven names, Amazon.com closed 2 percent higher after it was reported the company was bidding for short video platform TikTok.
On the data front, US private payrolls growth accelerated in March and new orders for US-manufactured goods increased solidly in February, likely as businesses front-loaded orders ahead of tariffs.
Focus will now switch to the crucial monthly non-farm payrolls data as well as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Friday for insights into the health of the US economy and trajectory of interest rates.
Traders have been betting on three rate cuts from the Fed this year but the prospect of tariff-induced inflationary pressures has clouded the outlook.
Among the newest public companies, CoreWeave continued its recovery from a rocky first two trading days, with the artificial intelligence startup building on the previous session's gains with a 16.7 percent advance.
However, conservative news provider Newsmax, which had posted triple-digit percentage gains on its first two days, retreated significantly, slumping 77.5 percent on the day.
Volume on US exchanges was 15.94 billion shares, compared with the 15.86 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
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