Stan Choe, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The US whips through another dizzy day on Wednesday, at the final time before the unveiling of the tariffs promised as part of his “liberation day,” which could significantly remake the global economy.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, but only after caregiving between previous losses of 1.1% and subsequent gains of 1.1%. This week there was an opening pattern with sharp drops just to outweigh the day.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 235 points (0.6%), while Nasdaq composites rose 0.9%. Both have been slower in the morning and then higher in the afternoon, then doubled back.
Elon Musk’s Tesla helped knock the market after a fall of more than 6% in the first three months of the year after reports of less electric cars in the first three months of the year than last quarter.
Tesla is one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks due to its size, and is facing backlash due to rage over CEO Elon Musk leading the US government’s efforts to cut spending. But that inventory wiped out losses from the morning, ending with a profit of 5.3% following reports that Trump told others that Musk would retreat from his government role in the coming weeks.
Financial markets around the world have been becoming much more precarious lately due to uncertainty over Trump’s trade war. He says he hopes tariffs will make the global system even more equitable and bring manufacturing jobs back from other countries to the US. But tariffs also threaten to crush the growth of the US and other economies, exacerbating inflation if they could get stuck above the Federal Reserve 2% target.
One hope that has helped boost the US stock market lately is that at least the worst uncertainty about tariffs could be passed.
“We don’t know how long previously enacted and future tariffs will be in effect, but we believe the uncertainty of peak tariffs is immediately behind us,” according to Kurt Reiman, another strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management. “Many of the work the administration has been trying to achieve has been implemented and there are many potential off-ramps available.”
After the market was shut down, Trump declared a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries and a rise in tariff rates in dozens of countries operating the US and trade surplus. The president kept the chart while speaking at the White House, indicating that the US will charge 34% tax on imports from China, import taxes from the European Union, 25% in South Korea, 24% in Japan and 32% in Taiwan.
Among companies that lost stocks in trading outside of business hours, Uggs maker Deckers fell 9.3%. Lululemon fell by 8.8%. Also, Home Products Retailer Williams Sonoma fell 8.4%.
Before the release date, Trump had already announced a 25% tariff on automobile imports. Taxation on China, Canada and Mexico. We expanded tariffs on steel and aluminum. Trump is also planning to impose tariffs on countries that import oil from Venezuela and separate import taxes on medicines, wood, copper and computer chips.
But even if Trump’s tariffs are harsher than ultimately feared, the worry that they’ll hit the market is that their own Harkey Jerky developments create enough tension in itself to freeze spending for our households and businesses, which could undermine the economy.
Research shows deepening pessimism, but economists are waiting to see if it will actually lead to damage to the economy. A report on Wednesday suggested that the U.S. job market could be stronger than expected.
A report by ADP Research says employers, excluding the government, employed more jobs last month than economists estimate. This could be an encouraging signal for a more comprehensive employment report coming from the US government on Friday. Economists expect to show overall employment from February to March.
The job market is one of the lynching pins to protect the US economy from recession.
The Treasury is shaking in the bond market and reflects the indecisiveness seen in the stock market.
The 2010 Treasury yield fell low at 4.11% from 4.17% on Tuesday, down from around 4.80% earlier this year. However, it later rose to 4.18%. A higher yield can show high expectations for the economy or inflation.
On Wall Street, Newsmax fell 77.5% on the third day of trading, giving back some of the Meteor’s profits from its debut earlier in the week. It surged 735% on Monday and another 179% on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, some airlines have flew high to recover some of the sudden losses recently taken by concerns that fewer customers will be able to withstand tariffs. United Airlines rose 4.6%.
The S&P 500 rose 37.90 points to 5,670.97. The Dow Jones industrial average was added to 42,225.32 to 235.36, while Nasdaq composites climbed from 151.16 to 17,601.05.
In overseas stock markets, indexes were mixed in Asia and then mixed across Europe.
AP business writers Eurikeyama and Matt Ott contributed.
Original issue: April 2, 2025 9:49am EDT
