Wall Street’s ‘week of drama’ on Trump chaos: Tariff hikes to Mag 7 group—5 key factors that moved US stock market | Stock Market News
Source: Live Mint
U.S. equities followed European stocks higher on Friday to end a bumpy week on a positive note, although safe-haven gold hit a record high with investors still showing some signs of anxiety about the economic impact of tariffs.
German government bond yields and the euro rose on Friday, with German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz saying he had secured crucial backing from the Greens for a massive increase in state borrowing.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 674.62 points, or 1.65%, at 41,488.19 while the S&P 500 rose 117.42 points, or 2.13%, to 5,638.94 for its biggest one-day percentage gain since Nov. 6, the day after the U.S. election.
The benchmark S&P index had finished Thursday more than 10% below its February record close after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on European wine and spirit imports, the latest trade war escalation after Europe retaliated against U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium.
The S&P 500’s 2.1% advance was the biggest since the aftermath of the November presidential election. Not even data showing a slide in consumer confidence prevented the market rebound, following a selloff that culminated in a 10% plunge of the US equity benchmark from its peak. As the safety bid waned, Treasuries joined their German counterparts lower. Bullion erased gains after climbing as much as 0.5% to $3,004.94 an ounce.
The moves capped a week of drama that included Trump’s on-and-off-again tariffs, recession calls, geopolitical talks and concerns over a US government shutdown. Combined with all the questioning around lofty tech valuations, global equity funds saw their biggest redemption this year while sentiment indicators turned bearish – a bullish signal from a contrarian perspective.
Last week the Nasdaq confirmed it was in a correction, driven lower by tariff and growth uncertainties as well as high valuations for megacap tech stocks. The Nasdaq Composite ended up 451.07 points, or 2.61% at 17,754.09 on Friday, for its biggest daily gain since November 6.
MSCI’s broadest gauge of global stocks rose 14.73 points, or 1.79%, to 836.32 on Friday, but still showed its biggest weekly fall since December. Earlier, the pan-European STOXX 600 index closed up 1.14%.
