U.S. stocks opened mostly higher on Tuesday as investors weighed newly elected President Donald Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, with Federal Reserve minutes on deck.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose about 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose about 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) lagged, falling 0.3% from its last record high, while drugmaker Amgen (AMGN) tumbled.
Markets were initially blindsided by Trump’s promise late Monday to impose high tariffs on the US’s largest trading partners from his first day in office. His comments have stoked fears of a trade war and dented Wall Street hopes that Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent would rein in any extreme moves by the new administration.
Wall Street appeared to follow Trump’s move, with stocks largely holding on Monday to Bessent bounce gains that lifted the Dow Jones to a record high. The debate focused on Trump’s record as president of using policy threats as a starting point for negotiations but then failing to fully deliver on them.
Meanwhile, shares of European automakers fell following Trump’s “America First” push. Nissan and Honda Motor (HMC), which have car factories in Mexico, came under pressure. In currencies, the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar fell sharply while the US dollar recovered.
More predictably, the release of Fed minutes later on Tuesday will look for clues about the depth and pace of rate cuts in the coming year. Several policymakers have indicated that they expect developments to proceed more slowly than previously planned. The minutes will set the stage for the October reading of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, on Wednesday.
In individual stocks, Amgen fell nearly 10% as weight-loss data from its monthly GLP-1 injection failed to impress Wall Street.
On the crypto front, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) retreated to trade around $92,840 per token as bidding for the $100,000 milestone ran out. The largest digital currency has posted its longest losing streak since Trump’s election victory boosted optimism around crypto.
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