Wall Street closed higher on Tuesday recovering some ground that it lost in the previous two days of trading. Market participants were busy assessing the real impact of U.S. tariffs imposed on three largest trading partners of the nation. All three major stock indexes ended in positive territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.3% or 134.13 points to close at 44,556.04 after a choppy session. At intraday low, the blue-chip index was down as much as 93.4 points. Notably, 19 components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory while 11 in negative zone.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 19,654.02, climbing 1.4% or 262.06 points due to strong performance by technology behemoths. The major gainer of the tech-laden index was Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR.
The stock price of the AI-powered software and data analytics firm soared 24%. Palantir currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The S&P 500 advanced 0.7% to finish at 6,037.88. Six out of 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index ended in positive territory, four in negative zone and one remained unchanged.
The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY), the Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) and the Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) were up 1.2%, 1.4% and 2.1%, respectively.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 7.6% to 17.21. A total of 13.39 billion shares were traded on Tuesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 15.53 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.81-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.29-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
On Jan 31, the White House finally announced that it would impose 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods and 10% on Chinese imports from Feb 1. Energy imports from Canada will be subject to a 10% tariff. These three countries account for more than 40% of U.S. foreign trade. Trump also said that the next target of the U.S. tariff will be European Union.
However, on Feb 3, the Trump administration delayed the date of implementation of those tariffs by one month. This happened following successful discussions between U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resolve border dispute and illegal immigration checking regarding the United States with Mexico and Canada.
On Feb 4, The China imposed tariffs of up to 15% on U.S. imports of coal and liquefied natural gas and 10% higher duties on crude oil, farm equipment and selected cars, effective Feb. 10.
