Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell on April 10, 2025, in New York City.
Charly Triballeau | Afp | Getty Images
Stock futures inched up Friday as traders weighed the latest developments on the tariff front and tried to end a week of wild market swings on a high note.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 117 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures rose 0.4% and 0.5% each.
Tariff fears remain at the forefront of investors’ minds after President Donald Trump temporarily slashed his country-specific duties to a universal rate of 10% — except for China. Goods from Beijing will see a rate of 145%, a White House official confirmed to CNBC.
China on Friday retaliated by raising its levies on U.S. products to 125% from 84%. “Even if the U.S. continues to impose higher tariffs, it will no longer make economic sense and will become a joke in the history of world economy,” the Chinese finance ministry said in a statement, according to a CNBC translation.
Stock futures initially dropped on China’s move. However, they recovered after the European Union said its trade representative was flying to Washington on Sunday to “try and sign deals.”
Wall Street is coming off a losing session. The S&P 500 fell 3.46% on Thursday, while the 30-stock Dow tumbled 1,014.79 points, or 2.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended the day lower by 4.31%.
The S&P 500 over the past five trading days
Thursday’s declines wiped a chunk of the gains the major averages saw on Wednesday after Trump announced a 90-day reprieve on some of his high “reciprocal” tariffs. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 surged 9.52% for its third-largest gain in a single day since World War II and the 30-stock Dow skyrocketed more than 2,900 points.
Stocks resumed their losing ways on Thursday as traders went into risk-off mode, with trade policy uncertainty weighing on sentiment.
The “lower tariff level is still a huge problem, and deadlines three months out offer no certainty for consumers, business, and investors,” said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management. “This set of policies will leave the U.S. with higher inflation, lower economic growth, and a frustrated stock market.”
Here are the U.S. tariffs currently in place:
- 145% duty on all goods from China
- 25% tariffs targeting aluminum, autos and goods from Canada and Mexico not under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement
- 10% levy on all other imports
Despite the tumultuous week, the three major averages are on pace for solid gains in the period. The S&P 500 is on pace for a 3.8% advance, its best weekly performance since November. The Nasdaq is on track to gain 5.1%. The Dow is on pace for a 3.3% jump week to date.
To be sure, the major averages remain sharply lower since April 2, when the White House announced so-called reciprocal tariffs on goods from other countries. Since then, the S&P 500 is down 7.1%.
China retaliates with 125% tariffs on U.S. goods
The trade war escalated on Friday as China raised tariffs on goods from the United States to 125% from 84%.
The move came after the Trump administration confirmed its levy on Chinese imports now stands at a total of 145%.
“Even if the U.S. continues to impose higher tariffs, it will no longer make economic sense and will become a joke in the history of world economy,” the Chinese ministry said in a statement, according to a CNBC translation.
“With tariff rates at the current level, there is no longer a market for U.S. goods imported into China,” the statement said.
—Anniek Bao, Michelle Fox
Wells Fargo shares rise slightly on higher earnings
Wells Fargo shares rose about 1% in premarket trading after the bank reported a 16% year-over-year increase in first-quarter earnings on the back of stable income from investment banking and wealth management.
Net interest income, a key measure of what a bank makes on loans, fell 6% year over year to $11.50 billion. Non-interest income, which includes investment banking fees, brokerage commissions and advisory fees, rose 1% to $8.65 billion from last year’s $8.54 billion
CEO Charlie Scharf highlighted the uncertainty in the economy brought on by the Trump administration’s actions to reorient global trade, calling for a timely resolution.
“We support the administration’s willingness to look at barriers to fair trade for the United States, though there are certainly risks associated with such significant actions,” Scharf said in a statement. “Timely resolution which benefits the U.S. would be good for businesses, consumers, and the markets.
— Yun Li
JPMorgan shares add more than 1% after earnings
JPMorgan Chase climbed 1.3% Friday morning after posting better-than-expected revenue in the first quarter.
The bank reported earnings of $46.01 billion in revenue, topping consensus estimates for $44.11 billion, according to LSEG.
To be sure, CEO Jamie Dimon offered caution on the broader economy amid tariff uncertainty.
“The economy is facing considerable turbulence (including geopolitics), with the potential positives of tax reform and deregulation and the potential negatives of tariffs and ‘trade wars,’ ongoing sticky inflation, high fiscal deficits and still rather high asset prices and volatility,” Dimon said.
“As always, we hope for the best but prepare the Firm for a wide range of scenarios,” he added.
— Hakyung Kim, Hugh Son
Morgan Stanley rises on earnings beat
Morgan Stanley reported first-quarter results that beat analyst expectations, sending the stock up more than 1% in the premarket. The bank earned $2.60 per share on revenue of $17.74 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a profit of $2.20 per share on revenue of $16.58 billion.
MS rises
— Fred Imbert
Dollar index slips further
The dollar index weakened 1% Friday, putting it on track to end the week down by 3%.
The greenback fell around 1.2% against the yen, which is viewed as a safe-haven currency, to trade at 142.83 yen.
The euro strengthened 1.2% versus the dollar at 1.13.
The swiss franc, also viewed as a safe-haven, rose to its highest point against the dollar since 2015 at 1.22.
— Hakyung Kim
European currencies rally
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The euro was 1.2% higher against the U.S. dollar on Friday morning, trading at around $1.133.
The British pound also rallied against the greenback, jumping 0.6% to $1.304 by 8:12 a.m. in London.
Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump paused the rollout of country-specific tariffs that would have hit the European Union goods with levies of 20%, and British goods with 10% duties.
The EU said on Thursday that it would suspend its planned countermeasures to Trump’s tariffs for 90 days.
Sterling also jumped on Friday after better-than-expected figures on economic growth out of the country.
— Chloe Taylor
U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rise as Trump tariffs-led sell-off continues
The 10-year Treasury yield climbed 6 basis points to 4.456% Friday Asia hours, as the sell-off in U.S. debt resumed.
Treasurys have seen a sharp sell-off this week, triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, forcing the administration to rethink its strategy and pause new tariffs on most countries.
The tariff reprieve helped drive a rally in stocks and halted the rise in yields, but the impact has since waned with both the slide in stocks and Treasurys resuming.
— Lee Ying Shan
Thursday sell-off was ‘rare, ugly and worrying,’ Evercore’s Guha says
Thursday’s washout in the stock market showed that investors care clamoring for still more clarity from President Donald Trump regarding tariffs, according to Evercore ISI strategist Krishna Guha.
“Today’s trading has seen a rare, ugly and worrying combination of market moves with the dollar, bonds and equities lower amid renewed volatility and stress cross-asset markets – in spite of a decent enough 30 year Treasury auction,” Guha, the firm’s head of global policy and central bank strategy, said in a note to clients.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 1,000 points while bond yields at the long end of the curve rose and the U.S. dollar lost nearly 2% against a basket of global currencies.
The moves could have been “a spasm,” Guha wrote, “But the market is pressing for a bigger U-turn with either a complete cessation of tariffs ex-China, or negotiations with China, or both.”
— Jeff Cox
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