The Dow soared by nearly 3,000 points, while the Nasdaq went up by 12.1 percent.
U.S. stock indexes surged on Wednesday afternoon following an announcement from President Donald Trump that he’ll pause reciprocal tariffs for most countries except for China.
The S&P 500 soared 9.5 percent on Wednesday. The index is still lower than it was when Trump announced his sweeping set of tariffs last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by nearly 3,000 points, while the Nasdaq shot up by 12.1 percent.
In the latest move, Trump said he would suspend targeted tariffs on other countries for 90 days to allow time for U.S. officials to negotiate with countries that have sought to reduce them.
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that his decision to launch the tariffs was needed because the situation with the United States’ trading partners “wasn’t sustainable.”
“Somebody had to pull the trigger. I was willing to pull the trigger,” the president said.
He said that he had been watching volatility in the bond market in recent days and appeared to suggest that was one of the reasons why he had initiated the pause.
“I was watching the bond market. The bond market is very tricky. I was watching it. But if you look at it now, it’s beautiful. The bond market right now is beautiful. But yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy,” he said.
Trump also said he watched a Fox Business interview with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon earlier on Wednesday. According to Trump, Dimon had “made the statement to the effect that something had to be done with the tariffs and trade … he understood it.”
In that interview, Dimon warned that a recession appeared to be the “likely outcome” for the U.S. economy due to tariffs. Still, he said that something needed to be done about unfair trade practices against the United States.
“It is perfectly reasonable for someone to say that trade was unfair. There were unfair trade things,” he told the outlet. “I think they have the [value-added tax] wrong, how they understand it. And I think they should really get a better understanding, to make it easier to negotiate.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and other officials said that a 10 percent baseline tariff will be left intact for nearly every country except for China, whose rates were raised by the Trump administration. The announcement also does not appear to affect duties on autos, steel, and aluminum that are already in place.
