Stocks rally on Trump tariff pause after market rout

Reuters

09-04-2025

NEW YORK, April 9 (Reuters) - Wall Street surged after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause in tariffs he announced last week.
The policy changes also include a lowered overall tariff of 10% during that 90-day period, and increase on tariffs on Chinese imports to 125%, from the 104% that went into effect overnight.
STOCKS: S&P 500 surged almost 7%, while the Nasdaq has jumped more than 8%.
ALEX MORRIS, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, F/M INVESTMENTS, WASHINGTON DC
'This is a giant meltup, because the announcement was the walkback the market needed to see. They hit the pause button and the market rejoiced. But of course, there is no promise that we'll manage to solve anything in 90 days. We're certainly not out of the woods, and we may see inflation data spike if people respond to the ongoing uncertainty by deciding to go out and buy things to hoard in case there are tariffs down the road. I think what convinced the president to act was the bond market, which had begun sending signals that this was going to get steadily worse.
"The market moves have been an absolute whiplash, with intraday moves of 9, 10, 11 percentage points on major markets. Stocks are trading on tweets and sentiment and the fear of silly policies being enacted. But there is plenty of liquidity and the market structure has held up very well.'
MARK HACKETT, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, NATIONWIDE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT GROUP, PHILADELPHIA
"It's definitely good news because it shows that the negotiations are in good enough shape that they think that they've accomplished what they needed to by this initial conversation.
"But I want to put a pretty big caveat out there because 8% rallies in 20 minutes in the Nasdaq aren't a heck of a lot healthier than 8% declines ... so I'm careful about giving an all-clear right now."
CHRISTOPHER HODGE, CHIEF ECONOMIST FOR THE US, NATIXIS IN NEW YORK
'We had assumed that some form of capitulation would be forthcoming – the financial carnage, let alone the economic pain that has yet to be felt, and it was inconceivable that the administration to endure for much longer. The decoupling with China looks to be real with no sign of concessions from either side. Will the EU similarly stand firm? The fractures appear to be deep at this point. I think its fair to say that foreign tariffs may come down a bit where they can via bilateral negotiations. Where there is not much room for decreased tariffs, like in FTA countries like Korea, it will be trickier.
"We may revert to the Trump 1.0 playbook of foreign countries agreeing to purchase more specific goods from the U.S. This could improve the trade deficit marginally, but will not fundamentally change the trading relationship like the administration desires."
JOHN CANAVAN, LEAD ANALYST, OXFORD ECONOMICS, NEW YORK
"The way President Trump worded this makes it not entirely clear if we actually have a pause or if we just have lower reciprocal tariffs at 10%. But regardless, either way, it's clear that the president is backing off some of the worst of his tariff threats here, and I think that's clearly going to be a net positive for risk assets that can last."
"One thing that it doesn't do is eliminate uncertainty. The uncertainty is because the level of tariffs just seems to change from day-to-day."
"So this only adds to the broader uncertainty as we go forward. But at least for the time being, while we can't be certain where the tariff situation is going to wind up, we can at least see that the president is showing an increased willingness to back down from the worst of his tariff threats and allow for some calm to enter the markets as things are negotiated."