Markets all over the world have flew by On Monday, after temporarily freezing several new tariffs on electronic devices amid a more rapid shift in President Trump's approach to trade policy.
Japanese stocks rose 1%, with benchmarks rising 2% in Hong Kong and under 1% in mainland China. Stocks in Taiwan, a global technology manufacturing center, fell slightly.
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 2% in early trading.
The S&P 500 stock futures were more than 1% higher, allowing investors to bet on how the index would work when they open in New York.
The modest gathering followed another chaotic week on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 starting with a loss, but ending with the best weekly performance since November 2022. Trump's announcement on Wednesday was driven by an announcement that he would suspend “mutual” tariffs imposed on the country's nation just a week ago.
U.S. customs officials exempt many technology products after Trump repeatedly said he would not spare the industry. This means that smartphones, semiconductors, computers and other devices will not face most of the 145% tariffs Trump has imposed on China.
The curve out, which provided some relief to investors, was considered a victory for Apple and other American tech giants as high-tech products and components are a key part of US imports from China. A spokesman for the Chinese Commerce Department on Sunday was called a “small step” to “fix” the tariffs Trump has placed on China.
But the water was muddy on Sunday when President Trump signaled that the exemption was temporary and pursuing new tariffs on semiconductors and other technologies.
Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the world's largest chip producer, fell 2.7% on Monday. ASML is the Dutch company where the world relies on the most sophisticated semiconductor making equipment, up over 3%. Apple's stock price rose more than 4% in pre-market trading
Financial markets around the world have been whipped in recent weeks due to the chaotic rollout of tariffs that Trump believes will promote domestic manufacturing. American trading partners are in a hurry to deal with the extraordinary tariffs announced by Trump. Consumers' trust in the US has been struck at a level that has not been seen for years.
Some analysts and business leaders have warned that Trump's tariffs are already beginning to weigh the economy.
“Even a swift tariff resolution with key partners puts the economy under pressure due to structurally high trade costs and headwinds in consumer spending,” Citibank's equity analyst wrote in a research note on Sunday.
Kazuoudha, the governor of Japan's central bank, told lawmakers on Monday that tariffs “put downward pressure” on Japan and the global economy.
Investors and analysts are also concerned about sharp fluctuations in the US government bond market, known as the financial market.
One of the world's most important interest rates, Treasury yields for 10 years, support the global debt market, but rose on Friday from under 4% a week ago to around 4.5%.
Such a sharp rise in yields corresponds to a sharp drop in prices, which is unusual, indicating a wide shift from the US market as the US dollar fell into tandem.
The market shaking driven by a major policy shift from the White House has left some of the market paralyzed. Consumers and business leaders feel as stuck as they are uncertain about the future.
“Now, we have a straight face and we can say that the world may look very different in a year or two from any other environment we have experienced,” said Henry Peabody, a strategist at Riverhead Research. He added that stocks need to drop further to provide a “safety margin” before recommending that they buy it again in the market. Until then, he said, “I'll be waiting in a hurry.”
Hisakouno Contributed research.
