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Indexes up: Dow 0.34%, S&P 500 0.48%, Nasdaq 0.79%

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Trump's tariff announcement at 4:00 p.m. ET

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ADP, factory orders beat estimates

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Tesla turns higher after reports Musk to leave govt role

(Updates to mid-afternoon trade)

By David French

April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes maintained gains

on Wednesday afternoon in a rebound from morning declines, but

all eyes were watching for U.S. President Donald Trump's

sweeping tariff announcements due later in the day.

Volatility has gripped U.S. markets in recent weeks as

investors speculated about the scope of tariffs and their impact

on the global economy, inflation and corporate earnings.

Some tariffs, including on steel, aluminum and autos, have

already been announced, although the main thrust of Trump's

tariff policy is set to be unveiled during a White House Rose

Garden ceremony scheduled for 4 p.m. ET (2000 GMT).

Investors are watching for greater details on what

specifically will attract tariffs as well as for the process for

implementing them. Reports have indicated Trump was considering

a 20% universal tariff.

Investors have, generally, adopted a risk-off approach in

the days leading up to the announcement, although gains across

all three benchmarks on Wednesday afternoon pointed to the

pessimistic tone being overdone, according to Phil Pecsok,

founder and chief investment officer of Anacapa Advisors.

"We made the call about a week ago that Wednesday morning

was going to be the lows, and it is looking like we are going to

be right," he said, adding he felt like the tariff news had

already been priced in and the market was oversold.

He noted that while there was always a possibility of

the market surprising people, his view was there would likely be

a short-term bounce which pushes the S&P 500 roughly 7-8%

higher, and back towards the 6,000 mark.

At 1:55 p.m. EDT, the S&P 500 had risen 27.29 points,

or 0.48%, to 5,660.36 points, while the Nasdaq Composite

had gained 138.13 points, or 0.79%, to 17,588.03. The Dow Jones

Industrial Average was up by 141.60 points, or 0.34%, to

42,131.56.

Big-tech names offered support to benchmarks on

Wednesday, maintaining the previous session's upward momentum.

Tesla jumped 5.4%, reversing early declines after

Politico reported that Trump has told members of his Cabinet and

other close contacts that his billionaire ally Elon Musk will

soon step back from his government role.

In early trade, Tesla fell as much as 6.4% after the EV

maker reported a 13% drop in first-quarter deliveries.

Its advances also helped the consumer discretionary

index to a 2.1% increase, making it the best

performing of the 11 S&P sectors.

Among other Magnificent Seven names, Amazon.com ( AMZN )

rose 2.3% after the New York Times reported it was bidding for

short video platform TikTok.

On the data front, U.S. private payrolls growth accelerated

in March and new orders for U.S.-manufactured goods increased

solidly in February, likely as businesses front-loaded orders

ahead of tariffs.

Focus is on the crucial monthly non-farm payrolls data as

well as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Friday

for insights into the health of the U.S. economy and trajectory

of interest rates.

Traders are betting on three rate cuts from the Fed this

year but the prospect of tariff-induced inflationary pressures

has clouded the outlook.

Among the newest public companies, CoreWeave

continued its recovery from a rocky first two trading days, with

the artificial intelligence startup building on the previous

session's gains with a 5% advance.

However, conservative news provider Newsmax ( NMAX ),

which had posted triple-digit percentage gains on its first two

days, retreated with a 62% decline.