US stocks soar on White House optimism on China trade deal, Dow up 2.7%
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Traders working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, in New York City, on April 22.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW YORK - Wall Street stocks jumped on April 22, rebounding from the prior day’s rout, after upbeat comments from Trump administration officials about US-China trade talks.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a closed-door event in Washington
Later, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “the president and the administration are setting the stage for a deal... the ball is moving in the right direction.”
Major indices spent the entire day in positive territory, with the Dow Jones industrial Average finishing at 39,187.04, up 2.7 per cent
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.5 per cent to 5,287.76, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.7 per cent to 16,300.42.
The April 22 rally is “another example of how the risk is to the upside,” said CFRA Research’s Sam Stovall, who characterised the market as oversold due to bearish sentiment.
But the International Monetary Fund slashed its forecast for global growth this year, citing the effect of US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policies.
Major indices fell about 2.5 per cent on April 21 after Mr Trump renewed his attacks on Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, moves that prompted another rise in US Treasury bond yields.
However, bond yields retreated on April 22.
Mr Stovall said the market is very uncomfortable with Mr Trump’s pressure on Mr Powell.
The threat of Mr Trump firing Mr Powell “is enough to push the market down 3 per cent,” Mr Stovall said. “If he actually did it, I think it would push the market down even further.”
Gains were broad-based on April 22, which included a heavy day of earnings news.
On the positive side, GE Aerospace jumped 6.1 per cent as it reported higher profits and said it had enacted a number of cost-control measures to counter tariff effects.
But RTX dove 9.8 per cent as the defence giant disclosed an estimated hit of US$850 million (S$1.1 billion) due to tariffs. AFP
