S&P 500 erases huge losses after Trump vows “flexibility” on upcoming tariffs

Stocks opened deep in the red, but erased nearly all their losses after President Donald Trump said there would be some “flexibility” on tariffs he plans to enact on April 2.

Buoyed by a late charge (likely influenced by the triple-witching expiry of stock, index, and ETF options), the S&P 500 managed to close marginally higher and the Nasdaq 100 booked a 0.4% gain, while the Russell 2000 dipped 0.6%.

The benchmark US stock index posted its first weekly gain since Valentine’s Day.

The S&P 500 sector ETFs home to the Magnificent 7 (communication services, consumer discretionary, and tech) were the only ones to go positive on the day.

Most S&P 500 constituents fell: in fact, going back to 1997, there have only been eight other sessions where the advance-decline was this negative and the benchmark stock index gained on the day.

Super Micro Computer was the top performer on the S&P 500 after the server company was upgraded by JPMorgan.

Tesla was also a standout gainer, as CEO Elon Musk’s all-hands meeting seemingly offset the negative fundamental headlines that have piled up around the company, at least for one day.

Boeing took flight while Lockheed Martin swooned after Reuters reported that the former beat out the latter for a contract to build a new jet for the Air Force.

Nike floundered after warning of sales declines going forward, at one point erasing all the stock’s gains since October 2015.

FedEx tumbled after missing on earnings and saying profits would be down this year.

Micron’s margin pressure was front-of-mind for traders selling off the stock despite its solid quarterly results.

Carnival dipped after its near-term guidance came in a little light relative to the Street’s estimates.

Chinese EV maker Nio also took the red pill after whiffing on earnings and issuing sales and delivery guidance for Q1 way below analysts’ projections.