Wall Street lifted on hopes for softer Trump tariffs

Investor sentiment has been jolted in recent weeks by fears that the president's hardball policies could deal a painful blow to the global economy

By AFP

Published: Mar 25, 2025 11:10:20 AM IST

Updated: Mar 25, 2025 11:26:14 AM IST

Investor sentiment has been jolted in recent weeks by fears that the president's hardball policies could deal a painful blow to the global economy. Image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Wall Street rose sharply on Monday, as the White House indicated that President Donald Trump was contemplating imposing less drastic US tariffs next week than previously thought.

Investor sentiment has been jolted in recent weeks by fears that the president's hardball policies could deal a painful blow to the global economy.

April 2 is now the focus of attention, with Trump labelling it "Liberation Day" as he prepares to unveil a raft of "reciprocal" measures—imposing tariffs on other countries equal to those in place against the United States.

A White House official told AFP on Monday that the sector-specific levies he had previously threatened "may or may not happen" as planned on April 2, adding that the situation was currently fluid.

All three major indices on Wall Street closed higher, with the tech-rich Nasdaq ending the day up 2.3 percent.

The trade news was "definitely the main cause" of the rise in Wall Street stocks, Steve Sosnick from Interactive Brokers told AFP.

"Investors clearly hate the idea of tariffs," he said. "So any news that implies that the burden of tariffs will be will be lighter than expected will be taken as a positive by the market."

European rally loses steam

European markets open buoyantly on Monday, but pared gains during the day, with London, Paris and Frankfurt all losing ground, albeit modestly.

Markets also digested purchasing managers' index (PMI) data that showed business activity in the eurozone increased for the third consecutive month in March.

The closely watched survey also showed that UK business activity hit a six-month high, a glimmer of good news for Britain's otherwise-struggling economy.

Also read: Markets bleed as Trump escalates fears of a global trade war

Asian markets fluctuated through the day, with Tokyo falling while Hong Kong and Shanghai rose.

Chinese electric carmaker BYD's shares rose by three percent, regaining some lost ground on the news it made more than $100 billion in 2024.

Its price had dropped more than eight percent on Friday following a report that the European Commission was conducting a foreign subsidy investigation into its plant in Hungary.

Jakarta dived more than four percent at one point, extending a recent sell-off.

Gold slid back slightly to around $3,010 an ounce (28.3 grams), having hit a series of records last week to a peak of more than $3,057 owing to a surge in demand for safe havens.

Holders of the asset could see prices continue to fall, according to Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at StoneX financial services.

"Moving forward, the gold forecast may not be as strong as the first months of the year," he said. "We think that the pace of the buying could at least slow, if not reverse."