Wall Street’s main indexes largely held firm on Tuesday, as jitters over President Donald Trump’s latest tariff offensive were offset by mounting hopes that fresh talks with U.S. trading partners could avert a full-blown global tariff war.
On Monday, Trump warned partners from Japan and South Korea to smaller players that steep new U.S. tariffs would kick in from Aug. 1 — though he left the door open to delays if countries come forward with fresh proposals.
Japan’s top trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, held a 40-minute phone call with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, where the two sides agreed to “actively” continue negotiations.
At 09:57 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 33.58 points, or 0.08%, to 44,372.78, the S&P 500 gained 6.03 points, or 0.10%, to 6,236.25 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 37.51 points, or 0.18%, to 20,450.02.
The sentiment has improved since a knee-jerk reaction on Monday, when all major indexes closed sharply lower following the tariff announcement.
In S&P 500 sub-sectors, the energy index led the pack with a 1% rise, while utilities dropped 1.3%.
In mega-cap stocks, shares of Tesla gained 1.5% after the stock recorded its steepest single-day fall in nearly a month on Monday.
Wall St knocked lower by tariff jitters
“The market’s taking comfort from the fact that the can has been kicked further down the road and the expectation remains that the bark is a lot worse than the bite,” said Ben Laidler, head of equity strategy at Bradesco BBI.
The swift market recovery is in stark contrast to the sharp selloff that followed “Liberation Day” tariff announcements three months ago — a rout that plunged the Nasdaq into bear territory and sent the Dow and S&P 500 into correction.
Since then, Wall Street has rebounded, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both notching record highs last week, buoyed by a robust labor market that helped quiet recession worries.
“We have not seen any dramatic economic consequences from big increase in tariffs,” Laidler added.
The U.S. has so far reached trade agreements with only Britain and Vietnam.
BofA Global Research and Goldman Sachs raised their year-end targets for the S&P 500 index, broadly driven by reduced policy uncertainty, resilient corporate earnings and potential interest rate cuts.
Traders have now all but ruled out a July rate cut from the Federal Reserve, putting the odds of a September cut at around 63%, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Minutes of the Fed’s June rate-setting meeting are scheduled for release on Wednesday, which will offer investors more clarity on when the central bank might resume its policy easing cycle.
Shares of solar stocks fell after Trump on Monday directed federal agencies to strengthen provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that repeal or modify tax credits for solar and wind energy projects.
SunRun dropped 8.9%, Enphase Energy lost 4.6% and SolarEdge Technologies declined 4.2%.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.57-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 2.17-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 47 new highs and 26 new lows.
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