US stocks close mixed ahead of Trump tariff announcement

NEW YORK - US stocks finished mixed on April 1 on a quiet trading day as investors braced for Mr Donald Trump’s tariff announcement, which he has dubbed “liberation day.”

The US president has not unveiled the details of his plan, leaving traders guessing ahead of the announcement, which the White House has now penned for Wednesday at 4pm local time in Washington (4am on April 3 in Singapore), after Wall Street markets close.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped less than 0.1 per cent to 41,989.96, while the broad-based S&P 500 shook off a recent slump to close up 0.4 per cent at 5,633.07.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite also finished in the green, gaining 0.9 per cent to 17,449.89, a day after posting its worst quarter since 2022.

“What Trump announces and the level of tariffs will likely move markets,” Mr Adam Sarhan, of 50 Park Investments, told AFP.

“If you have a situation where it’s weaker than expected, or there’s more delays, or it’s not as tight as people are fearing, then the market will likely rally,” he said.

“If you have a situation where Trump decides to go aggressive and announce higher-than-expected tariffs, then the market will likely fall,” he continued, adding: “This is a game of expectations.”

Although the US financial markets have slumped as Mr Trump’s tariffs have been rolled out, the White House has continued to insist that the president’s economic policy will ultimately be good for investors.

“As I’ve said repeatedly, just like they were in his first term, Wall Street will be just fine,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on April 1.

Among individual stocks, the conservative cable news channel Newsmax gained another 179 per cent, leaving its share price up more than 2,000 per cent since it began trading on March 31.

And the newly public cloud computing company CoreWeave surged 41.8 per cent, putting its share price back above its initial public offering price. AFP