United States stock markets ended Tuesday’s session (Wednesday AEST) on a mixed note as investors struggled to interpret trade signals from President Donald Trump.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 165.6 points, or 0.4%, to close at 44,240.8. The S&P 500 shed 4.5 points, or 0.1%, to 6,225.5, while the Nasdaq Composite managed a modest gain, rising 6 points, or 0.03%, to finish at 20,418.5.
Traders found themselves whipsawed by the president’s conflicting tariff announcements. On Monday, Trump extended a looming tariff deadline from 9 July to 1 August, only to qualify the move hours later by stating the new date was “not 100% firm”.
By Tuesday, however, the president took a firmer line, declaring in a Truth Social post that there would be no change or extensions to the 1 August deadline.
Adding to investor anxiety, Trump also flagged a 50% tariff on copper imports on Tuesday, broadening the scope of his protectionist push.
These moves followed a market downturn on Monday, when the Dow plunged more than 400 points after Trump imposed 25% tariffs on imports from South Korea and Japan. In total, new duties were applied to goods from at least 14 countries.
The abrupt shifts in policy left investors searching for direction. “The best-case scenario from here would involve the U.S. reaching trade agreements with major partners ahead of the deadline,” ANZ analysts wrote in a note to clients.
“This would help avert a renewed escalation in trade policy uncertainty. Regardless, we expect that the baseline/universal tariff of 10% is here to stay and some higher sectoral tariffs will remain in place.”
Despite the broader unease, some pockets of strength emerged. Nvidia rose 1.1%, edging closer to a US$4 trillion market valuation.
However, weakness in the financial sector weighed on overall performance. HSBC adopted a “more cautious stance” on large-cap U.S. banks, leading to sharp declines across the sector.
JPMorgan Chase lost 3.2%, Bank of America dropped 3.1%, while Goldman Sachs fell 1.9%.
On the bond markets, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury rose 0.5% to 4.403%, while the 2-year Treasury yield remained unchanged at 3.897%.
