Dow closes up 2,962 points in market rally as Trump pauses some tariffs
U.S. stocks closed with major gains on Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on some tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 2,962 points, or 7.8%, marking the index's best day since 2020.
The S&P 500 jumped 9.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq soared 12.1%.
The spike in the three major stock indexes erased much of the losses suffered in the aftermath of sweeping new tariffs issued by Trump a week ago. Markets remained lower than where they stood before Trump rolled out the tariff policy at a Rose Garden event on April 2.
On Wednesday afternoon, Trump announced a 90-day pause on the higher tariffs for most countries that he announced last week, while maintaining a 10% baseline tariff across the board.
Almost immediately after Trump's announcement, stocks surged.
Trump also announced additional tariffs on China, increasing the cumulative tariffs on Chinese goods from 104% to 125%. The escalation came in response to a fresh round of tariffs from China that raised levies on U.S. goods to 84%.
European Union countries on Wednesday backed the European Commissions proposal to push back on Trumps tariffs on steel and aluminum with a set of countermeasures.
In Europe, key indices dropped on opening Wednesday.
The British FTSE 100 dropped by 2.2%, Germanys Dax index dropped 2.3%, Frances CAC 40 fell by 2.4% and Spains Ibex index was down 2%. The pan-European STOXX index was down 2.6%.
United States stocks closed lower on Tuesday, marking a major reversal from a rally that sent the S&P 500 and Nasdaq up more than 4% earlier in the day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 320 points, or 0.8%, while the Nasdaq dropped 2.1%.
The S&P 500 fell 1.5%, putting the index on the brink of a bear market, a term that indicates a 20% drop from a previous peak.
The move lower on Tuesday resumed a selloff that stretches back to Trump's tariff announcement last week. Since then, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have each fallen more than 12%.
