Markets Wait on Tariff Update – Nasdaq Rallies 0.9%
It was a choppy trading session in the US yesterday as investors jostled positions ahead of key tariff updates from President Trump later today. The Dow closed close to flat, down just 0.03%, while tech stocks helped both the S&P and Nasdaq to ultimately close the day up, finishing the session up 0.38% and 0.87% respectively. Treasury yields drifted lower again, the 2-year losing just 0.2 basis points to move to 3.881%, while the 10-year dropped 3.6 basis points to 4.169%. Major currencies had relatively quiet days, trading in familiar ranges, the DXY adding 0.05% on the day to close at 104.23. Oil prices drifted off 5-week highs, Brent closing down 0.48% at $74.41 and WTI off 0.39% at $71.20. Gold recorded yet another all-time high, before then pulling back to close down on the day, losing 0.4% to finish at $3,110.55.
Investors Nervously Await Tariff Update
The market has been advised that any tariffs announced today by President Trump will take immediate effect. There has been a huge amount of debate on the extent of the tariffs to be announced today and the jury will still be very much ‘out’ until we get confirmation at the end of the trading day. The main debate appears to be whether we will see sweeping universal tariffs and what that number will look like – 20% has been well documented across markets – or more targeted individual reciprocal tariffs that have been touted by the President recently. Whatever the outcome today, traders are expecting plenty of volatility across markets, as the issue looks set to go down to the final whistle as always with this administration.
Quiet Calendar Day Ahead of Tariff Update
There is very little scheduled on the macroeconomic calendar today and that is probably a good thing, as the major focus for the day, and indeed the week, will be President Trump’s update on tariffs, due to come just after the US close. We do hear from the RBA’s Assistant Governor, Christopher Kent, early in the day and traders are expecting to see moves in the Aussie. However, there is little else on the cards in the Asian session. The European session has mainly third-tier data due out and we do have the ADP Non-Farm Employment Data due out early in the New York session, with expectations of 118k new jobs being created last month. However, once again, most expect the impact to be limited ahead of the tariff update from President Trump, due at 4pm New York Time.
