US: Stocks rise again on more benign Trump tone on China

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks posted solid gains for a second straight session on Wednesday (Apr 23) as markets continued to cheer the Trump administration’s more conciliatory tone on trade negotiations with China.

Equities spent the entire day in positive territory as market watchers also pointed to Trump’s statements that he had no plans to fire Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1.1 per cent at 39,606.57.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.7 per cent to 5,375.86, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.5 per cent to 16,708.05.

A day after the International Monetary Fund lowered its global growth outlook the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book of economic conditions said the economic outlook had “worsened considerably” in several US districts due to uncertainty about tariffs.

But markets are rallying on “any headline that’s less negative on trade”, said Art Hogan of B Riley Wealth Management.

“We have moved into a slightly more positive position but we still don’t know what the endgame will be on trade,” Hogan said.

On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters Washington is “not yet” speaking with Beijing on tariffs, calling today’s prohibitively high levies from both countries not “sustainable”.

Among individual companies, Boeing rose 6 per cent as it reported a smaller-than-expected loss while confirming 2025 targets to raise commercial plane production.

Tesla shot up 5.4 per cent despite reporting weaker-than-expected earnings as CEO Elon Musk announced he would shift his attention back to the electric carmaker, reducing his time spent on Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Other large tech equities also pushed higher. Amazon rose 4.3 per cent, Facebook parent Meta won 4 per cent and Microsoft climbed 2.1 per cent. AFP