LONDON: Global stock markets climbed on Wednesday, largely shrugging off US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats targeting copper and pharmaceutical imports.
Investors focused instead on countries racing to finalise trade agreements ahead of Trump’s newly set deadline of August 1.
The US president reignited trade jitters on Tuesday by announcing a 50 percent toll on copper imports and saying he was looking at 200 percent tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
The news sent the price of copper — used in a wide range of things including cars, construction and telecoms — to a record high Tuesday.
The dollar and oil prices strengthened Wednesday while the Dow, the broader S&P and the tech-heavy Nasdaq had all added more than half of one percent a few minutes after the opening bell.
Chipmaker Nvidia barrelled ahead 2.5 percent as growth in the AI sector saw it top $4 trillion in market value, extending its lead for the globe’s largest market capitalisation, AFP reported.
Noting tech had endured some lean months going back to the third quarter of last year, eToro’s US investment analyst Bret Kenwell noted that “we’re seeing growth stocks come to life on the back of AI initiatives, while cybersecurity firms are rallying higher. Mega-cap tech continues to spend fortunes building out the necessary AI infrastructure for the future.”
After Trump said he would allow pharmaceutical manufacturers time to relocate their operations into the United States before rolling out fresh duties equity markets largely took the news in their stride as “details of when, how and who remain thin on the ground”, said Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown.
The view of Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, is that “the market is not taking Trump at his word when it comes to tariffs, and the market impact has been limited so far.”
Some two hours from the close London’s stock market had added just over 0.1 percent on a session which saw declines in heavyweight mining companies but Paris and Frankfurt were bullish, each adding almost 1.5 percent.
Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was “cautiously optimistic” on the prospects of a deal between the European Union and US to avert Trump’s increased tariffs on the bloc.
The EU wants to strike a deal with the United States “in the coming days”, EU trade spokesman Olof Gill said Wednesday.
Trump warned he would not again extend his August 1 deadline to reach deals, after he pushed back his July 9 cut-off.
Earlier in Asia, Tokyo gains were tempered by losses in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Key figures at around 1345 GMT
New York – Dow: UP 0.6 percent at 44,495.74 points
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.6 percent at 6,260.16
New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.8 percent at 20,581.20
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,864.51 points
Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.4 percent at 7,873.69
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.4 percent at 24,559.92
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 39,821.28 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.1 percent at 23,892.32 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,493.05 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1714 from $1.1730 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3606 from $1.3592
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 146.44 yen from 146.53 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.11 pence from 86.27 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.6 percent at $69.76 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.7 percent at $67.88 per barrel