Stocks
Extend Gains as Investors Weigh Fed Rates and Tariff Talk
After an
early wobble, markets resumed rising after Chinese officials pushed back on
comments from President Trump and others suggesting that tariffs may ease via
negotiations.
By The New
York Times
Jason
KaraianKevin Granville
By Jason
Karaian and Kevin Granville
Jason
Karaian reported from London, and Kevin Granville from Seoul.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/business/stock-market-trump-tariffs.html
April 24,
2025
Updated
12:22 p.m. ET
Stocks rose
on Thursday, extending a two-day rally as investors hope for an easing of
President Trump’s trade wars and weigh comments on its impact from a Federal
Reserve official.
The S&P
500 gained more than 1 percent after stalling in early trading. The index has
seesawed this week: Monday saw a sharp sell-off, followed by two days of
sizable gains after Mr. Trump on Tuesday said that he was prepared to be “very
nice” in trade negotiations with China.
The rally
then paused after officials in China said they were not holding talks with the
United States about easing trade tensions. But indexes continued to swing on
scraps of information about tariffs and monetary policy, in the absence of
concrete developments about the escalating global trade war.
On Thursday,
Christopher Waller, a Fed governor, told Bloomberg that the economic hit from
Mr. Trump’s tariffs will take time to show up in the data, suggesting that the
central bank is not poised to lower interest rates soon. But when asked what
would prompt him to favor a rate cut, Mr. Waller said, “If I saw enough
movement in the unemployment rate to make me think that things were going bad,
or growth prospects started tanking, or consumer spending started really going
down, then I’d be ready to go.”
He Yadong, a
spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce, said on Thursday that, “There are
currently no economic and trade negotiations between China and the United
States, and any claims about progress in China-U.S. economic and trade
negotiations are baseless rumors without factual evidence.”
A spokesman
for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guo Jiakun, reiterated China’s stance,
which is that the tariff war was started by the United States and that China
would only engage in talks under certain conditions. “China’s attitude is
consistent and clear: If you want to fight, we will fight to the end; if you
want to talk, the door is open,” he said.
The day
before, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed speculation that Mr. Trump
was considering unilaterally lowering tariffs on China and emphasized that any
moves to de-escalate trade tensions would need to be mutual. “I don’t think
either side believes that the current tariff levels are sustainable,” he said.
In other
developments on Thursday:
Big
companies reporting their latest earnings warned that tariffs and economic
uncertainty would dent profits in the months ahead. PepsiCo and Merck cut their
earnings forecasts, while American Airlines withdrew its previous forecast for
the rest of the year, until “the economic outlook becomes clearer.”
A rise in
major technology stocks boosted the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index, which
was roughly 2 percent higher. Shares in Amazon were up more than 2 percent, as
were shares in the chip giant Nvidia.
The U.S.
dollar fell against several major currencies, including the euro, the British
pound and the Japanese yen.
The yield on
10-year Treasury bonds, which move inversely to prices, fell to 4.32 percent.
Oil futures
recovered some ground, with Brent crude up nearly 1 percent, approaching $67 a
barrel.
Stocks in
Asia and Europe were mixed: Japan’s main index was up, Hong Kong and South
Korea were down, and markets in Britain, France and Germany were roughly flat.
Colby Smith
and Danielle Kaye contributed reporting and Siyi Zhao contributed research.
Jason
Karaian is the business news director, based in London. He was previously the
editor of DealBook.
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