Dow surges 429 points as China signals lower tariffs on US products
U.S. stocks surged Tuesday following a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping in which he said he would open the country's economy and lower import tariffs on products, including cars.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 428.90 points, or 1.79%, to 24,408. The S&P 500 jumped 43.71 points, or 1.61%, to 2,656.87. The Nasdaq advanced 143.96 points, or 2.07%, to 7,094.30.
Facebook contributed to strong gains in the technology sector. The social media giant’s shares rose 4.5%, their best performance in two years, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared in Congress to testify on Facebook’s data privacy policies.
Industrial and financial shares, the groups that have fallen most since President Trump first talked about imposing tariffs on March 1, also were among Tuesday’s leaders. Boeing gained 3.8%, adding 85 points to the Dow.
“President Xi has succeeded in batting the ball back into the US court, so we now watch and wait for a response,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG. “A firm negative will send equities tumbling back down, but if Mr. Trump nods his approval of this first step towards negotiation we might see stock markets edge up once more.”
Asian markets rose on the Chinese President’s comments. European markets closed higher.
China’s Shanghai Composite gained 1.7%, the best day in seven weeks. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index finished the day higher by 1.7%. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.5%, its highest close since March 15.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FB | NO DATA AVAILABLE | - | - | - |
| BA | THE BOEING CO. | 156.58 | +0.93 | +0.60% |
| S | SENTINELONE INC | 27.43 | -0.52 | -1.86% |
| TMUS | T-MOBILE US INC. | 244.82 | -2.12 | -0.86% |
Economic data released on Tuesday included a reading on wholesale inflation, which sped up in March, with U.S. wholesale prices increasing by 0.3%. The 12-month rate of wholesale inflation, meanwhile, rose to 3% for the first time since November.
Commodities were also higher Tuesday, with the benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures up 3.3%, the biggest gain in nine months. Energy shares also rose 3.3%, leading the 11 S&P sectors.
In other corporate news, Sprint climbed 17.1% after The Wall Street Journal reported that the mobile carrier and rival T-Mobile have revived merger talks. T-Mobile shares were up 5.7%.
Ken Martin contributed to this article.