- US stocks were poised for more gains heading into a new trading week after a series of wild swings last week as investors navigated the latest twists and turns in President Donald Trump’s trade war. Late Friday, his administration unveiled tariff exemptions, but he warned they are temporary.
Stock futures pointed higher Sunday night, signaling more gains after markets endured a series of wild swings last week as President Donald Trump’s tariff regime has been a moving target.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 115 points, or 0.28%, while S&P 500 futures were up 0.68%, and Nasdaq futures jumped 1.11%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped 2.3 basis points to 4.47%, and the US Dollar Index eased 0.45%, as the greenback continued to slide against global currencies.
US crude oil prices rose 0.18% to $61.61 a barrel, and Brent crude ticked up 0.11% to $64.87 despite fears of a tariff-induced global recession weighing on energy demand forecasts.
Early last week, stocks tumbled as markets continued to reel from Trump’s aggressive “Liberation Day” tariffs, then they soared when he announced a 90-day hold for most of them. But stocks sank later as China retaliated but rallied on Friday.
Then in a notice published late Friday night, US Customs and Border Protection issued new guidance on his so-called reciprocal tariffs, carving out exemptions for smartphones, chips, as well as other top consumer electronics and tech components.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives called the exemptions the “best possible news for tech investors,” allowing Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft and tech giants to breathe a sigh of relief.
But on Sunday, Trump and administration officials warned the reprieve is only temporary as new duties will hit tech imports, though presumably the rates won’t be as high as the 145% level China faces.
While Trump can give stocks a boost, bond and currency markets may not be so easily impressed as they rapidly de-dollarize.
That’s as US assets that were traditionally viewed as safe havens are losing that status amid a shift away from the dollar, with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers warning that US bonds are trading like those of an emerging market nation.
“The market is rapidly de-dollarizing,” George Saravelos, global head of FX research at Deutsche Bank, said in a note this past week, adding that “the market has lost faith in US assets, so that instead of closing the asset-liability mismatch by hoarding dollar liquidity it is actively selling down the US assets themselves.”
On Tuesday, retail sales and industrial production reports for March are due. Meanwhile, earnings season will pick up in the coming week. On Monday, Goldman Sachs will report. On Tuesday, Citigroup and Bank of America take their turn. Tech earnings will kick off on Thursday, when Netflix will report.
