Stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday, largely offsetting the weakness seen in the previous session. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the charge.
The major averages finished the session just off their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq jumped 262.06 points or 1.4 percent to 19,654.02, the S&P 500 climbed 43.31 points or 0.7 percent to 6,037.88 and the Dow rose 134.13 points or 0.3 percent to 44,556.04.
The strength on Wall Street partly reflected easing concerns about a global trade war after President Donald Trump agreed to pause 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for a month.
Positive sentiment may also have been regenerated in reaction to a report from the Labor Department showing job openings in the U.S. fell by much more than expected in the month of December.
The report said job openings tumbled to 7.6 million in December after climbing to an upwardly revised 8.2 million in November.
Economists had expected job openings to dip to 8.0 million from the 8.1 million originally reported for the previous month.
The data led to some optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the release of the Labor Department’s more closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.
Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off news that China has slapped retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports in response to a 10 percent trade duty imposed on Chinese goods.
China’s Finance Ministry said it will impose a 15 percent duty on imports of coal and liquefied natural gas from the U.S.
In addition, there will be a 10 percent tariff on imports from the U.S. of crude oil, agricultural equipment and automobiles beginning February 10.
Sector News
Oil stocks moved sharply higher despite a decrease by the price of crude oil, resulting in a 3.0 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Oil Index.
Considerable strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 2.5 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.
Steel, retail and networking stocks also saw significant strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.7 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index surged by 2.8 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index slipped by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries recovered from early weakness to end the day moderately higher. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 3.0 basis points to 4.513 percent after reaching a high of 4.598 percent.
Looking Ahead
Trading activity on Wednesday may be impacted by reaction to reports on the U.S. trade deficit, private sector employment and service sector activity.
Reaction to earnings news from Alphabet (GOOGL) may also impact trading, with the Google parent releasing its quarterly results after the close of today’s trading.
Disney (DIS), Uber (UBER) and Yum! Brands (YUM) are also among the companies due to report their quarterly results before the start of trading on Wednesday.
Easing Tariff Concerns Contribute To Rebound On Wall Street
2025-02-04 21:09:10
