Stocks jump on US-Europe trade truce
US stocks enjoyed a strong start to the shortened week after Sunday’s news that President Donald Trump delayed boosting tariffs on imports from Europe to 50%.
The S&P 500 gained 2%, the Nasdaq 100 rose 2.4%, and the Russell 2000 ended up 2.5% on Tuesday.
The S&P 500’s advance-decline line was decisively in favor of the winners, which outnumbered losers by 437.
All S&P 500 sector ETFs rose, with consumer discretionary and tech outperforming.
Semiconductor stocks broke their seven-session losing streak, with Nvidia putting in a strong advance ahead of earnings on Wednesday amid reports that it has a new AI chip tailor-made for sale to China ready to enter mass production next month.
Heavily shorted tech stocks received a big boost during the risk-on mood, with SoundHound AI a standout in the cohort after being initiated with a buy rating at Piper Sandler.
No one’s barbecue beat AMC’s Memorial Day weekend, which saw the theater chain book record revenues for the holiday thanks to “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.”
Southwest surged as investors cheered news that passengers will hate: the end of its “bags fly free” policy beginning tomorrow.
Salesforce reached an agreement to buy cloud data management company Informatica in an all-stock deal for $8 billion, fueling a rally in the acquired company toward the proposed purchase price.
And Tesla spiked even though its European sales are doing the exact opposite.
UnitedHealth was among the S&P 500’s rare losers on the day, giving back ground as retail traders’ love affair with the stock looks to have waned.
Trump Media & Technology Group tumbled double digits after announcing a plan to sell stock to buy bitcoin.
And PDD Holdings, owner of Temu, plunged after posting an ugly first-quarter earnings report.
