Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] It was a huge day for stocks. The Nasdaq Composite soared nearly 12%, the S&P 500 spiked 9.3%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average bounced nearly 3,000 points. 

The monumental rally followed President Trump's announcement of a 90-day suspension on recently imposed tariffs, reducing them to 10% for countries that have not retaliated against the U.S. However, the rate on imports from China increased to 125% from 104%.

The massive upside moves were aided by short-covering activity after the sharp declines of late, along with a big surge in the mega cap space. 

Many of the most influential stocks in the market logged double-digit percentage gains. NVIDIA (NVDA 114.33, +18.03, +18.7%), Apple (AAPL 198.85, +26.43, +15.3%), Tesla (TSLA 272.10, +50.24, +22.6%), Microsoft (MSFT 390.49, +35.93, +10.1%), and Amazon.com (AMZN 191.10, +20.44, +12.0%) were huge beneficiaries of the surge in buying.  

All 11 S&P 500 sectors closed at least 3.9% higher. The technology sector led the upside charge, registering a 14.2% gain, followed by consumer discretionary (+11.4%) and communication services (+10.0%).

The huge move up today was helped in part by the understanding that the $39 billion 10-yr note auction was met with strong demand, particularly from foreign buyers. The 10-yr yield hit 4.50% and settled at 4.40%, which is still 14 basis points higher than yesterday. 

Participants were also digesting the FOMC's Minutes from the March meeting which showed that members generally saw increased downside risks to employment and economic growth and upside risks to inflation while indicating that high uncertainty surrounded their economic outlooks. The minutes garnered a muted response.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: -4.6% YTD
• S&P 500: -7.2% YTD
• S&P Midcap 400: -10.3% YTD
• Nasdaq Composite: -11.3% YTD
• Russell 2000: -14.2% YTD

Reviewing today's economic data:

• Weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index 20.0%; Prior -1.6%
• February Wholesale Inventories 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%); Prior 0.8%

Thursday's economic lineup features:

• 8:30 ET: March CPI (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%; prior 0.2%), Core CPI (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%; prior 0.2%), weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 225,000; prior 219,000), and Continuing Claims (prior 1.903 mln)
• 10:30 ET: Weekly natural gas inventories (prior +29 bcf)
• 14:00 ET: March Treasury Budget (prior -$307.0 bln)