Market Commentary - Foreign Markets
Stocks face downward pressure as Trump reinstates tariffs on steel and aluminum. Tech, airline and biotech stocks weaken while oil prices push oil producer stocks higher.
The Nasdaq fell 70.41 points (0.4%) to 19,643.86, the S&P 500 crept up 2.06 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,068.50 and the Dow rose 123.24 points (0.3%) to 44,593.65.
Stocks moved downwards in early trading amid lingering concerns about a global trade war after President Donald Trump officially announced tariffs on US steel and aluminium imports. A statement from the White House said Trump is reinstating a 25% tariff on steel imports and increasing tariffs on aluminium imports to 25%.
Networking and computer hardware stocks too were considerably weak, contributing to the decrease by the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Airline stocks were also significantly weak as reflected by the 2.1% slump by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Gold and biotechnology stocks too notably moved downwards while oil producer stocks moved higher along with the price of crude oil.
Asia-Pacific stocks turned in a mixed performance on Tuesday with the Japanese markets closed for a holiday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.1% while South Korea's Kospi advanced by 0.7%. The major European markets all moved to the upside on the day while the German DAX Index climbed by 0.6%, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3% and the UK's FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1%.
In the bond market, treasuries moved l after ending the previous session roughly flat. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by climbed 4.4 bps to 4.53%.
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