Global markets experienced significant volatility during trading on Tuesday as a large number of corporate earnings results were released, while markets breathed a sigh of relief after the United States decided to postpone imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
However, the escalation of the trade war between the United States and China, following China's imposition of retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., kept investors cautious. This was coupled with an increased appetite for safe-haven assets amid a sharp decline in the U.S. dollar, especially after China puzzled Google and some other major American companies with potential local investigations.
Stock Market Global markets rallied as investors focused on strong quarterly corporate earnings results while maintaining a cautious optimism regarding the potential easing of the trade war between the United States and Western countries during negotiations.
All three major U.S. stock indices rose during today's trading, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up by 0.39%, the S&P 500 increasing by 0.78%, and the NASDAQ leading the gains with a rise of 1.32% following robust earnings from U.S. technology company Palantir after they announced better-than-expected earnings and strong forecasts for the upcoming year.
This came after a strong close for European stock indices as well, except for the British index. The Euro Stoxx 600 index was up by 0.22% at closing, with the Italian and Spanish indices leading the session gains, each rising by nearly 1.4%.
In Asia, European stock indices also closed the morning session with collective gains, with the Japanese index recovering from some losses from the previous session, as the Nikkei closed up by 0.72%, while the Hang Seng index for Chinese stocks in Taiwan rose by 2.83% at closing.
Forex Market The U.S. dollar index experienced significant losses as the American currency fell against all other major currencies after the Trump administration announced the postponement of tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a month and hinted that Trump might exempt the United Kingdom from the tariffs.
The dollar index - which measures the performance of the U.S. currency against a basket of 6 other major currencies - fell by 0.41% to record 107.97 points. The Canadian dollar was the biggest winner against the dollar, with significant gains also made by the euro and the British pound against the greenback.
Bond Market The U.S. bond market saw noticeable losses during today’s trading amid the significant decline in the dollar. The yields on 10-year Treasury bonds fell by 0.62% to 4.51%, while the yields on 2-year bonds declined by 1.15%.
Commodity Market Gold Gold emerged as the biggest beneficiary from the volatility caused by Trump's tariffs, as China’s retaliatory tariffs and the subsequent increase to 15% raised investor caution, despite the U.S. postponing tariffs on Canada and Mexico. This led to an increased demand for gold as a safe haven, with the yellow metal reaching a new historical peak for the fourth consecutive day.
Today, spot gold prices rose by 1.04% to record $2,844.20 per ounce, while April futures for the metal increased by 0.61% to $2,874.20 per ounce.
Oil Oil prices rose today after U.S. President Trump announced that he will exert "maximum pressure" on Iran to completely cut its oil exports and counter its regional influence.
Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude erased their early losses and managed to achieve some gains by the end of the session, with Brent rising by 0.5% to $75.85 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude increased by 0.32% to $72.44 per barrel.
