US stocks are swinging again in the final hours before President Donald Trump unveils the tariffs he promised as part of his “Liberation Day,” which could drastically remake the global economy and trade.
The S&P 500 was up 0.5 per cent in afternoon trading after rallying back from an early loss of 1.1 per cent. It’s had a pattern this week of opening with sharp drops only to finish the day higher. The Dow Jones was up 154 points, or 0.4 per cent, after erasing an initial fall of 360 points, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9 per cent higher in early afternoon trade.
Wall Street has been on a rollercoaster this week.Credit: Bloomberg
The Australian sharemarket is set to rise, with futures at 4.55am AEDT pointing to a gain of 13 points, or 0.2 per cent, at the open. The ASX added 0.1 per cent on Wednesday. Trump is set to unveil his tariffs at 7am AEDT, the same time that Wall Street closes.
Financial markets around the world have been particularly shaky lately because of uncertainty about what Trump will announce in the event scheduled to begin after the US stock market closes for the day. He has said he wants tariffs to make the global system more fair and to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States from other countries.
But tariffs also threaten to grind down growth for the US and other economies, while worsening inflation when it may be stuck above the Federal Reserve’s 2 per cent target. Much is still unknown about what Trump will say, including how big the tariffs will be, which countries will be hit and what kinds of products will be targeted. The announcement may also not even clear up all the uncertainty weighing on Wall Street, given that it may just provide a starting point for negotiations with other countries.
One of the hopes that’s helped push upward on the US stock market recently is the possibility that at least the worst of the uncertainty may have already passed.
Loading
“We do not know how long the previously enacted tariffs and any future tariffs will remain in force, but we believe peak tariff uncertainty may soon be behind us,” according to Kurt Reiman, head of fixed income Americas, and other strategists at UBS Global Wealth Management. “Much of the work the administration set out to achieve will have been put in place, and there are numerous potential offramps available.”
The tariffs Trump will unveil later in the day will follow other announcements of 25 per cent tariffs on auto imports; levies against China, Canada and Mexico; and expanded tariffs on steel and aluminum. Trump has also put tariffs against countries that import oil from Venezuela and plans separate import taxes on pharmaceutical drugs, lumber, copper and computer chips.
