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Market Commentary - Foreign Markets

US stocks surged with strong gains in tech, banking, and airline sectors. Investors welcomed reports of scaled-back tariffs, fueling a bullish market mood.

Wall Street Rallies as Tech Stocks Lead; Dow Jumps 598 Points

25-Mar-2025, 10:25
The Dow settled higher by 597.97 points or 1.42%, at 42,583.32. The S&P 500 closed up 100.01 points or 1.76%, at 5,767.57, while the Nasdaq ended stronger by 404.54 points or 2.27%, at 18,188.59.

The tech sector posted more pronounced gains leading to a fine performance by US stocks. The market stayed positive as the mood remained bullish right through. Investors reacted to reports President Donald Trump plans to hold back some of the reciprocal tariffs set to take effect on April 2nd. Wall Street released a report revealing that Trump is narrowing his approach to the tariffs likely omitting a set of industry-specific tariffs. Bloomberg also said Trump's coming wave of tariffs is poised to be more targeted than the barrage he has occasionally threatened, citing aides and allies.

Semiconductor and networking stocks had a very good outing. Shares from steel, banking, retail and airline sectors too closed mostly higher. Tesla soared nearly 12%. Advanced Micro Devices, United Airlines Holdings, FedEx, Moderna, Ross Stores, Dollar Tree, Delta Airlines and Microchip Technology gained 4 to 7%. Meta, Texas Instruments, Amazon, Morgan Stanley, Home Depot, Eli Lilly, Nvidia and Citigroup all gained more than 3%.American Express, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Alphabet, Visa and Apple also closed with strong gains.

Asia-Pacific stocks turned in a mixed performance. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dipped by 0.2%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.2%. The major European markets failed to hold early gains and ended mixed on the day.

In economic news, the S&P Global US Composite PMI rose to 53.5 in March, climbing up from February's 10-month low of 51.6, a flash estimate showed while the Manufacturing PMI fell to 49.8 in March from 52.7 in February, the Services PMI rose to a three-month high of 54.3 in March, from 51.0 in February.