Wall Street indices are coming off of a strong rally in the previous session.
The upward momentum for Wall Street indices cooled down as key benchmarks hovered largely along the flatline in early trade on March 25. Despite the lacklustre moves, investors pushed ahead to extend the rally from the previous session driven by hopes that Trump’s upcoming tariffs may be much narrower than anticipated.
Attention also remains on the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index, due later in the day, spreading some risk aversion among investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up less than 0.1 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hovered just above the flatline. Investors awaited the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index, set for release at 10 a.m. ET, with economists expecting a reading of 93.5, down from 98.3 in February.
Wall Street remains on edge over concerns about rising inflation and slowing economic growth, particularly as it awaits President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, set to take effect on April 2. In the last session, optimism grew after reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News suggested that the White House might limit the scope of the tariffs. Trump later hinted that he ‘may give a lot of countries breaks’ while confirming that duties on sectors like pharmaceuticals and autos were still on the horizon.
Investors welcomed this clarity on the tariff front, leading to a strong rally on Monday, where the Dow surged 1.4 percent, the S&P 500 gained 1.8 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.3 percent. These gains helped stocks recover from a volatile month, during which the S&P 500 briefly entered correction territory.
With momentum slowing on Tuesday, market participants will closely watch consumer confidence data and further developments on trade policies to gauge the market’s next move.
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