Markets today: Wall Street gains ground after shaking off four-week losing streak

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Monday, March 20, 2023. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg)

NEW YORK — Stocks closed broadly higher Monday amid hopes on Wall Street that the Trump administration may take a more targeted approach as it tees up a new round of tariffs on imported goods next week.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.8 per cent. The index was coming off its first winning week after a four-week losing streak.

• Dow Jones updates here

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.4 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite closed 2.3 per cent higher.

“The market was primed to respond well if the administration pulled back on some of the tariff threats or even provided off ramps for the tensions, and that’s kind of what we’re seeing here,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird.

Despite the gains, the benchmark S&P 500 has lost 1.9 per cent so far this year out of concerns that a trade war could hinder economic growth and increase inflationary pressures.

• S&P 500 market updates here

Wall Street remains focused on how tariffs could eventually impact inflation, consumer spending and economic growth. Stocks have been riding waves of hope and worry as tariffs are announced, then either implemented or pulled. A new round of tariffs scheduled to be implemented on April 2 could also be softened or postponed rather than take effect.

Trump has been somewhat closely guarded about his plans for tariffs, saying Monday that even though he wants to charge “reciprocal” rates -- import taxes to match the rates charged by other countries -- that “we might be even nicer than that.”

“The exact breadth and scale of the tariffs remain to be seen, and a cycle of tit-for-tat escalation is also possible in the weeks following the announcement, potentially triggering further bouts of market volatility,” said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, chief investment officer of global equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Gains on Monday were broad, with 84 per cent of stocks within the S&P 500 ending higher. Nearly every sector within the index rose.

Technology stocks helped lead the way. The sector has been the driving force behind much of the broader markets movement, whether up or down. The stocks are among the most valuable on Wall Street and tend to have an outsized impact on the broader market’s direction.

Nvidia rose 3.2 per cent and Apple added 1.1 per cent.

Tesla climbed 11.9 per cent for the biggest gain among S&P 500 stocks. The electric vehicle maker is still down about 31 per cent for the year. It has been struggling on worries that customers are turned off by CEO Elon Musk’s leading efforts to slash spending by the U.S. government.

Genetics testing company 23andme lost more than half its value after it announced over the weekend that it had initiated voluntary bankruptcy proceedings.

AZEK Co. jumped 17.3 per cent after the building materials company announced it was being bought by Australia’s James Hardie Industries in a cash-and-stock deal valued around $8.75 billion.

It’s the second large deal in the sector in less than a week, with QXO Inc. announcing on Thursday that it was buying Beacon Roofing Supply Inc. in a deal worth about $11 billion, including debt.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 100.01 points to 5,767.57. The Dow gained 597.97 points to 42,583,32. The Nasdaq rose 404.54 points to 18,188.59.

In the bond market, Treasury yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.34 per cent from 4.25 per cent late Friday.

Markets in Europe mostly closed lower, while indexes in Asia were mixed.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang struck a conciliatory tone during a meeting with business leaders and U.S. Senator Steve Daines, a strong supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, who is the first member of Congress to visit Beijing since Trump took office in January.

Wall Street has several economic updates this week. Business group The Conference Board releases its consumer confidence survey for March on Tuesday. Wall Street expects the survey to show a slight dip in consumer confidence.

• Real-time TSX market updates here

On Friday, the U.S. government releases the personal consumption expenditures price index for February. It is a measure of inflation closely watched by the Federal Reserve.

Recent economic reports have shown that the underlying economy remains strong, but that consumers are becoming more worried and cautious. They have also shown that inflation remains stubborn.

Stubborn inflation has prompted more caution from the Fed, which started cutting its benchmark interest rate at the end of 2024. Those cuts came after the central bank raised interest rates in order to cool inflation from a two-decade high.

Several measures of inflation show that interest rates remain just above the Fed’s goal of 2 per cent. The U.S. trade war with its key trading partners has threatened to reignite inflation and the Fed is holding off on further cutting interest rates to see how inflation and the broader economy reacts.

Lower interest rates can ease borrowing costs and help give the economy a boost, but they can also push inflation higher.

Article by Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga.

Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed to this report.