Stocks soar as Trump presses tariffs pause button and hits China harder
- Business newspaper, The Financial Times, asks “What lies behind the bond sell-off?”.
- Donald Trump stunned global investors on Wednesday when he announced a 90-day pause in additional tariffs on countries that were willing to negotiate with the US, sending stocks surging as the president backed down from a full-blown trade war.
- US equities jumped immediately after Trump’s announcement, with the blue-chip S&P 500 index closing up 9.5 per cent. The rally spread to Asia on Thursday, with Japan’s Topix rising 8 per cent and Taiwan’s Taiex advancing 9.3 per cent.
- The Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 5.5 per cent in early trading, while Germany’s Dax rose 8.3 per cent and the FTSE 100 advanced 6.1 per cent.