Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
- Wall Street has been focused on the Trump administration’s latest moves seeking to win more deals with global trading partners.
U.S. stocks rose in early trading Wednesday as Wall Street weighed the latest developments in the Trump administration’s bid to win more deals with global trading partners.
The S&P 500 was up 0.7%, a solid start after posting a slight loss a day earlier. The benchmark index remains near the record it set last week after a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 224 points, or 0.5%, as of 10:01 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% higher.
Bond yields were mostly lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 4.38%, down from 4.40% late Tuesday.
Gains in technology stocks helped drive the market higher, outweighing declines in energy and other sectors.
Nvidia rose 2.5% and Microsoft added 1.6%.
Wall Street has been focused this week on President Donald Trump’s renewed push to use threats of higher tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. in hopes of securing new trade agreements with countries around the globe.
Wednesday was initially set as a deadline by Trump for countries to make deals with the U.S. or face heavy increases in tariffs. But with just two trade deals announced since April — one with the United Kingdom and one with Vietnam — the window for negotiations has been extended to Aug. 1.
The extension has calmed Wall Street for the time being, unlike the tariff rollouts of the spring, which sent markets swinging wildly from day-to-day for weeks.
Still, this latest phase in the White House’s trade war heightens the threat of potentially more severe tariffs that’s been hanging over the global economy. Higher taxes on imported goods could hinder economic growth, if not increase recession risks.
On Tuesday, Trump said he would be announcing tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs at a “very, very high rate, like 200%.” He also said he would sign an executive order placing a 50% tariff on copper imports, matching the rates charged on steel and aluminum.
Copper prices eased Wednesday after spiking a day earlier. Shares in mining company Freeport-McMoRan were down 0.7%.
Outside of trade talks, some corporate news surfaced after a typically quiet early summer stretch.
Pharmaceutical giant Merck is buying Verona Pharma, a U.K. company that focuses on respiratory diseases, in an approximately $10 billion deal. If approved by Verona shareholders and U.K. officials, Merck will get access to Verona’s chronic obstructive pulmonary disease medication Ohtuvayre. Verona shares jumped more than 20% on the news, while Merck shares were up 2.1%.
Delta Air Lines kicks off earnings season on Thursday, with most analysts expecting the airline’s second-quarter profit to decline from a year ago. Delta and other major U.S. carriers have trimmed their flight schedules and pulled their forecasts this year as consumers pull back on travel and other nonessential spending due to uncertainty about how Trump’s tariffs will affect their budgets.
Later Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes from its June policy meeting, when it left its benchmark rate alone for the fourth straight time, also due to uncertainty over how tariffs will impact the labor market and broader economy.
In overseas markets, stock indexes were broadly higher in Europe after a mixed finish in Asia.
U.S. benchmark crude was down 0.7%, while Brent crude, the international standard, was off 0.6%.
