Stock Markets Build on Gains as Trump De-Escalates on China, the Federal Reserve

Risk assets back in favor, defense stocks retreat.

James Gard 23 April, 2025 | 4:56PM
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Illustration of market volatility with images of a woman with binoculars, stock ticker, and coins inside up and down arrow-shaped masks

Global markets made gains on Wednesday as President Donald Trump rowed back on comments about the Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the US administration signaled a willingness to scale back tariffs on China.

Markets reacted specifically to Trump’s suggestion of a “substantial” cut in China tariffs, backed up by Treasury secretary Scott Bessent saying the current regime was “unsustainable”.

The STOXX Europe 600 closed up nearly 2% and at European market close, US indexes were up around 2%.

“The more conciliatory tone from the White House on trade talks is in line with our view that a worst-case scenario on tariffs can be avoided,” say analysts at Swiss bank UBS. They also say that earnings season has helped improve investor confidence.

“The stabilization in markets may also reflect that the ongoing first quarter earnings season is not turning out to be as bad as feared, even though the percentage of companies beating sales and earnings estimates has so far been below historical averages.”

Tech Stocks Up, Defense Stocks Down

Among European stocks leading the gains, German software giant SAP SAP rose nearly 10% after earnings and amid renewed investor enthusiasm for the wider technology sector. Defense stocks led the fallers as markets reacted to renewed hopes of a Ukraine-Russia peace deal.

In fixed-income markets, US bond yields softened initially but recovered to around 4.37%, a similar level to the day before. German 10-year bond yields moved higher to 2.49%.

Currency markets saw the dollar make modest gains against the euro, with one dollar trading at EUR 0.88, from EUR 0.87 the day before.

Having hit a record high of $3,500 on Tuesday, gold retreated as investors embraced more risk and ditched safe-haven assets. The commodity was seen trading around $3,300.


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James Gard

James Gard  is editor for Morningstar.co.uk

 

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