Wall Street’s main indexes opened sharply higher today after a bruising selloff that has wiped out trillions of dollars since last week, as investors wait for any sign of the US opening up for negotiations over some of the aggressive tariffs.
The Dow Jones rose 2.3% in opening trade, while the S&P 500 rose 2.6% and the Nasdaq Composite index jumped 3.7%.
European markets continued to recover from their steep losses yesterday.
Spurred on by the strong opening on Wall Street, London’s FTSE index had gained 3.3% this afternoon, while the Paris CAC rose 3.2% and the Frankfurt DAX climbed 2.6%.
Dublin’s ISEQ index was also making back some of its recent losses and jumped 4.3% this afternoon. Uniphar, Kingspan and Ryanair were among the top gainers.
Earlier, Asian stocks also bounced off more than one-year lows, but many investors remained on edge even as they hoped Washington might be willing to negotiate some of the aggressive tariffs that have unleashed turmoil in markets.
A 5.6% rebound in Japan’s Nikkei far outpaced other regional markets, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tasked with leading trade negotiations with Tokyo.
“Importantly, a little ray of sunshine is starting to emerge that gives hope that the US is genuinely open to trade negotiations, (with) the most significant being Japan with Treasury Secretary Bessent,” said Tapas Strickland, head of market economics at National Australia Bank.
Strickland, however, noted volatility remains extremely elevated, with the “rare event” of the VIX index spiking above 60 overnight for only the second time since the Covid pandemic.
The uptick in Tokyo comes after a steep selloff in recent days, while China’s markets rose only modestly after the country’s sovereign wealth funds stepped in to buy shares.
Chip-export-dependent Taiwan’s benchmark tumbled 5%, a day after suffering its worst fall on record.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares added 1.7% to climb from its lowest level since February of 2024, but that followed a more than 10% dive over the previous two sessions, and much of the rebound came from Japanese shares.
Thai stocks dropped nearly 6% in catch-up selling from a holiday yesterday, while Indonesia returned from a week-long holiday to 9% losses.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1.5% after its steepest drop since the 1997 Asian financial crisis yesterday.
Mainland Chinese blue chips added 1%, with help from buying by sovereign fund Central Huijin Investment and other state-backed investors.
Meanwhile, Indonesian stocks closed down nearly 8% today after a weeklong public holiday break, its biggest fall in more than a decade as uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs roil markets.
The heightened uncertainty in markets was not helped by shifting headlines on trade as investors looked for respite from the sharp market volatility.
An erroneous report by CNBC that President Donald Trump was considering a 90-day pause on tariffs for countries other than China was quickly denied by the White House.
Trump also dug in his heels over China, vowing additional 50% levies if Beijing does not withdraw retaliatory tariffs on the US. Beijing said today it will never accept the “blackmail nature” of US tariff threats.
US business leaders have begun speaking out about the damage to the economy and financial markets that could bewrought by Trump’s global trade war, with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warning of inflation and a US slowdown.
The European Commission said yesterday it had offered a”zero-for-zero” tariff deal to avert a trade war with the US as EU ministers agreed to prioritise negotiations, while also striking back with 25% tariffs on some US imports.
Source: rte.ie