The day’s trading session did see several peaks and troughs in the various indices. At one point mid-afternoon the S&P 500 fell by 0.4% from Wednesday’ s open, before recovering. The Dow was by about 200 points. And the Nasdaq oscillated throughout the day but spent most of the session above the open.
The relatively calm trading day came after the U.S. and China agreed to lower their mutual tariff rates for the next 90-days. That pause gave investors hope the two superpowers would ultimately find an agreement that could restore global trade to some semblance of normalcy. At the very least, they hope that some future accord would provide some long-term clarity about what would or wouldn’t happen in the world economy. The truce between the U.S. and China soothed investor’s worst fears that a recession is imminent.
U.S. equities all popped at the start of the week after the pause between the U.S.and China was announced late Sunday. Significantly, this week’s performance has tipped the S&P 500 into positive territory for the year with a 0.4% return since January 1. The Dow and the Nasdaq both remain down about 0.8% and 0.9% for the year respectively.
