Associated Press Business Writer Stanchion
NEW YORK (AP) – US stocks are drifting on Tuesday, a quiet day that is unusual for financial markets around the world, at least for now.
The S&P 500 increased by 0.2% in early trading, but it is more likely to experience huge swings of time and time, not just daily. We regularly measure more than 1% of points every day as the market struggles to keep up with President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Dow Jones’ industrial average rose 44 points (0.1%) as of 9:35am, with Nasdaq Composite rising 0.3%.
Perhaps more importantly, the US Treasury market was also showing milder signs after last week’s sudden, sharp moves sparked concerns that investors around the world might no longer see US government bonds as simple as possible when times are scared.
The Treasury yield for the 2010 year period has been stable at 4.38%, eased on Monday from 4.48% at the end of last week. A week ago it was only 4.01%.
After last fall, the value of the US dollar has further increased concern that Trump’s trade war is decreasing its status as another safe seafarer investment, like the US Treasury Department. The value of the dollar was engraved high against the euro and Swiss franc, but slipped onto the British pound.
On Wall Street, Bank of America rose 3.9% after the Charlotte-based Bank, North Carolina, reported profits in the most recent quarter than analysts expected.
Most large US banks are reporting strong results at the beginning of the year, boosted by the stock trading desk, taking advantage of all the huge swings caused by Trump’s standard offensive tariff announcements. Citigroup also surpassed analyst expectations, with its inventory rising 2.3%.
According to a report by Bloomberg, Boeing weighed it in the market after ordering Chinese airlines to halt further delivery of US aerospace companies’ planes and halt purchasing aircraft equipment from US companies. Boeing slid 1.4%.
The two biggest economies of the world are announcing ever-growing tariffs on each other’s goods, along with other measures to exacerbate the trade war. Trump says he wants to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US and wants to cut how much his country exports to other countries rather than imports.
Meanwhile, China’s leadership is visiting countries in Southeast Asia this week, and is trying to present itself as a source of “stability and certainty.”
In overseas stock markets, indexes rose in most parts of Europe and Asia. Germany’s DAX returned 1.1%, while London’s FTSE 100 added 0.9%.
Automakers helped boost their Asian indexes. There, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.8%, while Korea’s Kospi increased by 0.9%.
Chinese stocks wobble, and Hong Kong’s Hangsen rose 0.2% after shaking most of the day. Shanghai’s shares added 0.1%.
AP business writers Eurikeyama and Matt Ott contributed.
Original issue: April 15th, 2025, 8:59am EDT
