Wall Street rallies as hopes for softer Trump tariffs grow; Nasdaq pops 2%

Last week, the S&P 500 snapped its four-week long losing streak to end in the green.

Wall Street surged on Monday amid hopes that President Donald Trump may scale back some of his planned tariffs, easing investor concerns over a potential global trade war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 502 points, or 1.2 percent, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.5 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led the gains, rising nearly 2 percent.

Among individual stocks, Tesla surged over 7 percent, snapping a nine-week losing streak, while Meta gained 4 percent and Nvidia rose nearly 2 percent.

Investors had been on edge as Trump’s April 2 deadline for imposition of reciprocal tariffs loomed. However, reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News suggested that the tariffs may be narrower in scope, with some industry-specific duties excluded and certain nations exempted. While the situation still remains uncertain, this development helped calm investor nerves.

Trump further eased investors on Friday by hinting at potential 'flexibility' in his tariff plan, which helped push markets into the green to end last week. Concerns about a slowdown in US economic growth were amplified by weaker consumer sentiment data. However, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reassured investors at the central bank's latest policy meeting that any negative impact from the tariffs are likely to be short-lived.

Looking ahead, investors will watch for consumer confidence data on Tuesday and weekly jobless claims on Thursday for further clues on the economy’s trajectory.

Meanwhile, today's rally also extended last week’s gains, helping major indices recover from recent losses. The S&P 500 is now 7.8 percent off its record high, out of the correction territory but the Nasdaq Composite, which broke a four-week losing streak last week, still remains 12 percent below its peak.