The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in early trading, though it’s been prone to huge swings not just day to day but also hour to hour. It is particularly the case nowadays, as markets struggle to keep up with President Donald Trump’s trade war, which economists warn could cause a global recession unless it’s scaled back.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 44 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher at the US opening.
The bond market was also showing more signs of calm after its sudden and sharp moves last week raised concerns that investors worldwide may no longer see US government bonds as a safe haven asset.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was holding steady at 4.38%, where it eased to on Monday from 4.48% at the end of last week. It had been at just 4.01% a week earlier.
The value of the US dollar also steadied after its fall last week, raising more worries that Trump’s trade war was degrading its status as another safe-haven investment, like US Treasury bonds.
The dollar’s value ticked higher against the euro ($1.1323) and Swiss franc ($1.2220), but slipped against the British pound ($1.3224).
In energy trading, benchmark US crude traded at $61.64 a barrel, 0.2% up shortly after the US opening. At the same time, Brent crude, the international standard, was also slightly up, trading at $65 a barrel.
Previously, the International Energy Agency lowered its forecast for global oil demand this year, citing escalating trade tensions.
Gold futures traded a little above $3,233, up 0.2% at the opening of the US stock markets.
How corporate news moved trades
On Wall Street, Bank of America climbed 3.9% after the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank reported a 10% profit jump for the latest quarter, a stronger than expected result.
Most big US banks have been reporting strong results for the start of the year, boosted by their stock trading desks taking advantage of all the huge swings caused by Trump’s on-again-off-again tariff announcements. Citigroup also topped analysts’ expectations, and its stock rose 2.3%.
Boeing helped weigh on the market after Beijing ordered Chinese airlines not to take further deliveries of the US aerospace company’s planes and to halt purchases of aircraft equipment from US companies, according to a Bloomberg report. Boeing slid 1.3%.
Johnson & Johnson also reported strong sales and profit in its most recent quarter, however, its shares were down 0.7% shortly after the opening.
United Airlines reports after markets close.
The latest on tariffs
In contrast to the latest tariff pullback announcement, the Trump administration took steps toward imposing more tariffs, saying it was investigating the national security implications of imports of pharmaceuticals, computer chips and related products.
The US president also suggested that he might temporarily exempt the auto industry from tariffs he previously imposed on the sector, to give carmakers time to adjust their supply chains.
The news pushed up automaker’s shares across the world, the biggest German carmakers’ Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes all traded up by 2-3.1% by the opening of the US stock markets.
Indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. Germany’s DAX returned 1.5%, and the FTSE 100 in London added 1.3%.
Automakers helped drive indexes higher in Asia, where Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.8% and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.9%.
Chinese stocks wobbled, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rising 0.2% after fluctuating much of the day. Stocks in Shanghai added 0.1%.
