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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 ends higher after reports Musk to leave govt role
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Indexes up: Dow 0.56%, S&P 500 0.67%, Nasdaq 0.87%
(Adds closing prices)
By David French
April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes finished higher
after a choppy trading session on Wednesday, falling early and
then rebounding as investors made last-minute bets to position
themselves ahead of 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.
The CBOE Volatility Index, known as Wall Street's
fear gauge, has remained for the last three sessions around a
level last seen in mid-March.
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.
"Words from presidents matter," said Christopher Wolfe,
president and chief investment officer of Pennington Partners &
Co. "They can, and do, change policy and the way corporate
America responds to things. That's the weight we are all feeling
now."
Wolfe noted that much of the markets' response to Trump's
speech will depend on whether he outlines a measured economic
policy shift or a string of seemingly arbitrary tariffs that
risk unintended consequences.
"I do not expect, unless there is a one-way, we're just
going to blast at everybody (speech), I do not see the stock
market having a big over-reaction."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 235.36 points,
or 0.56%, to 42,225.32, the S&P 500 gained 37.90 points,
or 0.67%, to 5,670.97, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed
151.16 points, or 0.87%, to 17,601.05.
Big-tech names offered support to benchmarks on Wednesday,
maintaining the previous session's upward momentum.
Tesla jumped 5.3% after Politico reported that
Trump has told members of his Cabinet and other close contacts
that his billionaire ally Elon Musk, CEO of the electric vehicle
maker, will soon step back from his government role.
This helped reverse earlier declines triggered when Tesla
reported a 13% drop in first-quarter deliveries.
Its advance helped the consumer discretionary
index, which rose 2%, the best performing of the 11 S&P sectors.
Among other Magnificent Seven names, Amazon.com ( AMZN )
gained 2% after it was reported the company 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 will now switch to 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 ( CRWV )
continued its recovery from a rocky first two trading days, with
the artificial intelligence startup building on the previous
session's gains with a 16.7% advance.
However, conservative news provider Newsmax ( NMAX ), which
had posted triple-digit percentage gains on its first two days,
retreated significantly, slumping 77.5% on the day.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 15.94 billion shares, compared
with the 15.86 billion average for the full session over the
last 20 trading days.