ADVERTISEMENTStocks rallied worldwide on Monday after President Donald Trump relaxed some of his tariffs, for now at least.
The S&P 500 was 1.5% higher in early trading. That comes after a chaotic week where it careened through historic swings as financial markets struggled to catch up with Trump’s moves on tariffs, which investors fear could lead to a recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 441 points, or 1.1%, at the opening, and the Nasdaq composite was 2% higher.
Apple, Nvidia and other big technology companies led the way on Wall Street after Trump said he was exempting smartphones, computers and some other electronics from some of his stiff tariffs, which could ultimately more than double prices for US customers of many goods coming from China.
Such an exemption should help US importers, which would not have to choose between passing on the higher costs to their customers or taking a hit to their own profits.
Apple climbed 5.3%, Nvidia rose 2.3%, and Dell Technologies jumped 5.9%.
Stock markets in other countries likewise bounced following the cooldown in Trump’s trade war with China, the world’s second-largest economy. Indexes climbed 2.2% in France, 2.7% in Germany, and 1.7% in the UK at the time of the US market’s opening.
But the relief may prove fleeting. Trump’s tariff rollout has been full of fits and starts, and officials in his administration said this most recent exemption on electronics is only temporary.
The bond market is calming
Perhaps more encouragingly for Wall Street, the bond market was also showing signs of increasing calm. Treasury yields eased a bit following their sudden and scary rise last week, which seemed to rattle not only investors but also Trump himself.
Treasury yields usually drop when fear is high in the market because US government bonds have historically been seen as some of the world’s safest investments, if not the safest. But last week, yields rose unusually sharply for Treasury bonds. The value of the US dollar also fell against other currencies in another move suggesting investors may no longer see the United States as the best place to keep their cash during moments of stress.
Trump referred to the moves in the bond market when he announced a 90-day pause on many of his tariffs last week.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased back to 4.40%. It had jumped to 4.48% on Friday from 4.01% the week before.
How earnings are driving investors’ hands
Elsewhere on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs rose 2.7% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected. It joined other big banks in doing so, such as JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.
“With the latest results season starting in earnest this week, every statement will be closely analysed to get a view on what tariffs will do to the bottom line, and crucially what other companies are doing with their IT spend,” Ben Barringer, global technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said.
Coming later this week are the latest financial results from Bank of America, United Airlines and Netflix, among others.
ADVERTISEMENTDeclining oil demand and climbing value of gold
Meanwhile, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut its forecast for growth in crude demand for this year and 2026, citing the impact of US trade tariffs.
US benchmark crude oil as well as Brent crude were up by around 1% at the US market opening, pushing the cost of WTI to just above $62 a barrel, while the Brent climbed to $65.57 per barrel.
The US dollar dropped to 143.06 Japanese yen from 143.91 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1404 from $1.1320.
The safe-haven investment gold retreated from record levels, signalling a returning risk appetite on the markets, trading 0.7% lower in the US opening, falling to around $3,220 per ounce.
ADVERTISEMENTBut the price is expected to climb further. US investment bank Goldman Sachs has lifted its 2025 target to $3,700 an ounce from $3,300. Other strategists see gold reaching $4,000 by June 2026, as reported by Marketwatch.
The latest in the US-China trade confrontation
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Trump’s weekend tariff announcement was “a small step” toward fixing the president’s so-called “reciprocal” duties. China urged him to cancel them completely.
China had announced Friday that it was boosting its tariffs on US products to 125% in the latest tit-for-tat increase following Trump’s escalations on imports from China.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.4% to 21,417.40, while the Shanghai Composite index picked up 0.8% to 3,262.81 after the government reported that China’s exports surged 12.4% in March from a year earlier in a last-minute flurry of activity as companies rushed to beat increases in US tariffs imposed by Trump.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Taiex fell 0.1% in Taiwan, whose economy is heavily dependent on exports of computer chips and other high-tech goods, after Trump said the new chip tariffs will be announced “over the next week”.
The friction between the world’s two largest economies could cause widespread damage and a possible global recession, even after Trump recently announced a 90-day pause on some of his tariffs for other countries, excluding China.