NEW YORK – Wall Street is climbing Tuesday as the roller-coaster ride created by President Donald Trumpβs trade policies whips back upward, this time because of a temporary pause for tariffs on the European Union.
The S&P 500 was 1% higher in its first trading since Trump said Sunday that the United States will delayΒ a 50% tariff on goods coming from the European UnionΒ until July 9 from June 1. The European Unionβs chief trade negotiator laterΒ said on Monday that he had βgood callsβΒ with Trump officials and the EU was βfully committedβ to reaching a trade deal by July 9.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 297 points, or 0.7%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% higher. Theyβre on track to more than recover their losses from Friday, when Wall Streetβs roller coaster dropped after Trump announced the tariffs on France, Germany and the other 25 countries represented by the European Union.
Such talks give hopes that the United States can reach a deal with one of its largest trading partners that would keep the wheels of global commerce going and avoid a possible recession. Trump reached aΒ similar pause on his stiff tariffs with ChinaΒ earlier this month, which unleashed anΒ even bigger rally on Wall StreetΒ at the time.
Caution still remains on Wall Street, of course, even if the S&P 500 has climbed back within 4.6% of its record after falling roughly 20% below the market last month.
Talks donβt guarantee results, and a worry is that all the uncertainty caused by on-again-off-again tariffs could damage the economy itself by pushing U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending and investments out of fear of whatβs to come. Surveys have already shown U.S. consumers are feeling much worse about the economyβs prospects and where inflation may be heading because of tariffs.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased to take some of the pressure off the stock market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.48% from 4.51% late Friday. It had been rising late last week, in part because ofΒ worries about the U.S. governmentβs rapidly increasing debt.
Yields have been climbing for bond markets around the developed world, particularly in Japan, where a recent auction of longer-term bonds found relatively few buyers. Analysts said worries eased after Japanβs finance ministry sent a questionnaire to bond investors that they took as a signal of efforts to calm the market.
In stock markets abroad, European indexes rose, while Asian indexes were mixed.
