NEW YORK: US stocks opened higher Monday, partially reversing a recent slump as the White House confirmed it was considering a more limited rollout of tariffs than previously indicated.
A White House official told AFP that sector-specific levies “may or may not happen April 2,” adding that the situation was still fluid.
But reciprocal measures are still expected to be announced on that day, added the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, without elaborating further.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 0.8 percent at 42,317.59, while the broad-based S&P 500 index rose 1.0 percent to 5,726.61.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index saw the biggest increase, gaining 1.5 percent to 18,047.59, as traders looked to capitalize on the good news.
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“It looks like the White House is backing off on some of the industrial tariffs, namely cars and microchips,” Peter Cardillo from Spartan Capital Securities told AFP.
“So you can see that the Nasdaq is leading the way and it looks like we might be able to be in a recovery mode here,” he said.
Among the day’s big gainers so far was Elon Musk’s Tesla, which rose more than 5.0 percent in early trading.
And FedEx gained 3.2 percent after an analyst upgrade, clawing back some recent losses.
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