US stocks post biggest surge in years as Trump announces 90-day tariff pause
Nasdaq soars 12.16% to post largest rise since 2001, Dow climbs 7.87% in biggest jump since 2020, S&P 500 adds 9.52% to biggest gain since 2008, 'fear index' falls 35.75%
ISTANBUL
US stocks ended with huge gains, seeing their largest one-day gains in decades Wednesday after US President Donald Trump announced some countries will be given a 90-day pause in tariffs above 10%, except China.
Trump announced a 90-day reprieve to all nations except China from a Wednesday deadline in which they were expected to be hit with tariffs above his 10% baseline.
"I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately," he wrote on Truth Social.
The president said he was raising the tariff rate on China to 125%.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said resolutions to the global trade row would be "bespoke," or tailored to each nation.
"We've just been overwhelmed, overwhelmed by the response from mostly our allies, the ones who come and negotiate in good faith," he said.
"We are expecting them to come with their best deal. And as I said a week ago today, don't retaliate, hold your ground, let's see what happens. And China kept escalating and escalating, and now they have 125% tariffs," he added.
Trump also said China is eager to make a trade deal but uncertain about the pace, after Washington raised tariffs on Chinese imports to 125%.
“We have a tremendous amount of spirit from other countries, including China. China wants to make a deal. They just don't know how quick to go about it,” he said.
The rally at the closing bell on Wall Street was led by stocks that had been under pressure due to trade war fears.
Shares of the “Magnificent Seven” rose significantly after Trump's announcement. Amazon, Meta, Nvidia, Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple and Tesla rose between 9.88% and 22.69%.
Delta Air Lines and United Airlines rose 23.38%, while American Airlines gained more than 22.6%. Shares of the Walmart increased more than 9.5%.
The Dow soared 7.87%, or 2,962.86 points, to end at 40,608.45, posting its biggest one-day rise since March 2020.
The S&P 500 surged 9.52%, or 474.13 points, to 5,456.9, in its largest advance since October 2008.
The Nasdaq jumped 12.16%, or 1,857.06 points, to 17,124.97, recording its second-best day ever and biggest one-day rise since January 2001.
The VIX Index, also known as the “fear index," dropped 35.75% to 33.62.
