Wall Street Indexes Register Gains After Wild Swings and Elevated Tariff Fears

Barry Adams
11 Apr, 2025
New York City

Stocks advanced in Friday's trading as investors reviewed the latest developments on the rapidly evolving tariff landscape, and activities in the bond trading and the U.S. dollar garnered attention. 

The S&P 500 index edged up 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.3% as investors hoped for calmer markets and a lower level of volatility. 

As of Thursday's close, the S&P 500 index is up 3.8%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 5.1% after a historic market rally on Wednesday pushed indexes higher. 

Despite wild swings in markets after the Trump administration announced the halting of country-specific tariffs for 90 days, it kept the base tariff of 10% on all countries, except China. 

Moreover, the U.S. slapped additional tariffs on Chinese goods, increasing the total to 145%, prompting Beijing to increase its retaliatory tariff to 125% from 84%.

The rapidly deteriorating trade relations between the two largest economies in the world are fueling market uncertainty and investor anxieties and sharply raising the risk of a global recession and widespread job losses.

Moreover, U.S. consumers are facing resurgent inflation as automobile dealers rush to raise prices between $3,000 and $7,000, food retailers increase prices between 15% and 30%, and electronics and appliance retailers revise prices higher by as much as 70%.  

Amazon.com's chief executive, Andy Jess, in a nod to a changing landscape, said that the online retailer will allow sellers to increase their prices.  

 

Commodities, Currencies, Indexes, Yields

The S&P 500 index increased 0.3% to 5,285.49, the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.5% to 16,474.20, and the Russell 2000 index was down 0.5% to 1,822.66.

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes edged lower to 3.86%, 10-year Treasury notes increased to 4.44%, and 30-year Treasury bonds advanced to 4.88%.

WTI crude oil decreased $0.29 to $59.79 a barrel, and natural gas prices edged lower by $0.11 to $3.44 a thermal unit.

Gold increased by $43.97 to 3,232.20 an ounce, and silver edged up by $0.42 to $31.60.

The dollar index, which weighs the US currency against a basket of foreign currencies, decreased by 1.39 to 99.48, putting the dollar on track for its worst day since 2022, and it is the lowest level since September.

 

U.S. Movers 

JPMorgan Chase advanced 1.3% to $230.08, and the financial service company topped earnings expectations. 

The company warned that the U.S. economy is facing "considerable turbulence" amid trade policy uncertainty, resurgent inflation, and a slowdown in economic activities. 

Wells Fargo & Company advanced 0.6% to $63.49, and the financial service company reported first quarter results that met investor expectations. 

Revenues in the first quarter were $20.12 billion, driven by a decrease of 6% in net interest income of $11.50 billion, and non-interest income increased 1% to $8.65 billion.

In the first quarter, Wells Fargo repurchased 44.5 million of its own shares for $3.5 billion.

Morgan Stanley advanced 0.9% to 107.49, and the investment bank and asset management company's quarterly results surpassed market expectations after equity trading soared 45%. 

First quarter revenue jumped 17% to $17.74 billion, and earnings advanced 26% to $4.32 billion, and earnings per share rose to $2.60 per share.

Equity trading revenue jumped 45% to $4.13 billion, fixed-income trading revenue advanced 5% to $2.6 billion, and investment banking fees increased 8% to $1.56 billion.