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Stocks rose on Wednesday, staging a recovery rally after back-to-back losses as investors hoped that an exemption for automakers to President Donald Trump’s controversial tariffs opened the floodgates for more concessions.
The Dow Jones Industrials popped 485.20 points, or 1.1%, to 43,006.19, regaining ground after plunging more than 1,300 points over the last two sessions
The S&P 500 index hiked 64.37 points, or 1.1%, to 5,842.52.
The NASDAQ Composite spiked 267.57 points, or 1.5%, to 18,552.73. All three indexes were on track to snap two-day losing streaks.
Stocks took a leg up after the White House said it granted a one-month delay for tariffs on automakers whose cars comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Stellantis surged 10%, while Ford gained 5% and General Motors added more than 8%.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also said Trump was open to providing additional exemptions on the taxes.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said late Tuesday that he expected an announcement on an agreement with Canada and Mexico. Lutnick added on Wednesday morning that Trump was considering which sectors of the economy to give relief to on the taxes.
Microsoft and Tesla also popped in the session, a turn after the sector has led the market’s recent drawdown.
Still, uncertainty lingered as Trump said Canada’s fentanyl efforts were “not good enough” in a call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The three indexes swung between positive and negative territory Wednesday before the announcement of delays for automakers, underscoring the heightened market volatility as investors tracked the status of tariff policy.
Trump’s levies — and subsequent announcements of retaliatory plans from China, Mexico and Canada — have rocked markets this week. Even with Wednesday’s respite, the three major indexes are still all down more than 1% on the week.
A reading on the health of the service sector released Wednesday morning came in slightly better than economists expected. But the ADP private payroll report released earlier in the day showed less job growth than anticipated, adding yet another data point to the growing body of evidence indicating the economy was cooling.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury edged lower, lifting yields to 4.28% from Tuesday’s 4.20%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped $1.85 to $66.41 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold strengthened $10.70 an ounce to $2,931.30 U.S.
