Stocks closed broadly higher Monday amid hopes on Wall Street that the Trump administration may take a more targeted approach as it tees up a new round of tariffs on imported goods next week.
The S&P 500 jumped 1.8%. The index was coming off its first winning week after a four-week losing streak.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.4%, and the Nasdaq composite closed 2.3% higher.
“The market was primed to respond well if the administration pulled back on some of the tariff threats or even provided off ramps for the tensions, and that’s kind of what we’re seeing here,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird.
Despite the gains, the benchmark S&P 500 has lost 1.9% 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.
Trump has been somewhat closely guarded about his plans for tariffs, saying 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% 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% and Apple added 1.1%.
Tesla climbed 11.9% for the biggest gain among S&P 500 stocks. The electric vehicle maker is still down about 31% 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 U.S. government.
Genetics testing company 23andme lost more than half its value after it announced over the weekend that it had initiated voluntary bankruptcy proceedings.
