Despite the gains, the benchmark S&P 500 has lost 1.9 per cent so far this year out of concerns that a trade war could hinder economic growth and increase inflationary pressures.
Wall Street remains focused on how tariffs could eventually impact inflation, consumer spending and economic growth. Stocks have been riding waves of hope and worry as tariffs are announced, then either implemented or pulled. A new round of tariffs scheduled to be implemented on April 2 could also be softened or postponed rather than take effect.
Loading
Trump has been somewhat closely guarded about his new plans for tariffs, saying on Monday that even though he wants to charge “reciprocal” rates — import taxes to match the rates charged by other countries — that “we might be even nicer than that.”
“The exact breadth and scale of the tariffs remain to be seen, and a cycle of tit-for-tat escalation is also possible in the weeks following the announcement, potentially triggering further bouts of market volatility,” said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, chief investment officer of global equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.
Gains on Monday were broad, with 84 per cent of stocks within the S&P 500 ending higher. Nearly every sector within the index rose.
Technology stocks helped lead the way. The sector has been the driving force behind much of the broader markets movement, whether up or down. The stocks are among the most valuable on Wall Street and tend to have an outsized impact on the broader market’s direction.
Nvidia rose 3.2 per cent and Apple added 1.1 per cent.
Tesla climbed 11.9 per cent for the biggest gain among S&P 500 stocks. The electric vehicle maker is still down about 31 per cent for the year. It has been struggling on worries that customers are turned off by CEO Elon Musk’s leading efforts to slash spending by the US government.
Genetics testing company 23andme lost more than half its value after it announced over the weekend that it had initiated voluntary bankruptcy proceedings.
AZEK jumped 17.3 per cent after the building materials company announced it was being bought by James Hardies in a cash-and-stock deal valued around $US8.75 billion ($14 billion).
Loading
Wall Street has several economic updates this week. Business group The Conference Board releases its consumer confidence survey for March on Tuesday. Wall Street expects the survey to show a slight dip in consumer confidence.
On Friday, the US government releases the personal consumption expenditures price index for February. It is a measure of inflation closely watched by the Federal Reserve.
Recent economic reports have shown that the underlying economy remains strong, but that US consumers are becoming more worried and cautious. They have also shown that inflation remains stubborn.
Stubborn inflation has prompted more caution from the Fed, which started cutting its benchmark interest rate at the end of 2024. Those cuts came after the central bank raised interest rates to cool inflation from a two-decade high.
with AP
The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.
