Stocks end higher after Trump eases up on tariffs

After hours of indecisive trading, stocks finished with modest gains Thursday after President Trump formally ordered tariffs on steel and aluminum imports with terms that were less harsh than investors had feared.

Stocks rallied after reports that Canada and Mexico will be exempted indefinitely from the tariffs and that other countries will be invited to negotiate for exemptions as well.

“This certainly is not the strict tariff proposal that the president had suggested in the past couple of weeks,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial.

Healthcare companies rose after pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts accepted a $52-billion offer from health insurer Cigna. Technology companies also moved up. Energy companies slipped along with oil prices.

Kroger fell 12.4% to $22.98 after the grocer posted a bigger fourth-quarter profit and said its digital sales almost doubled in the last year but issued a profit forecast for the current year that disappointed investors. Kroger expects to earn $1.95 to $2.15 a share for the year; FactSet says analysts expected $2.15 a share on average.

Tronc plunged 24.1% to $15.05 after the newspaper publisher’s quarterly profit fell far short of Wall Street’s forecasts. The company’s papers include the Los Angeles Times, which it is in the process of selling.

Tech Data Corp. sank 19.7% to $86.40 after the distributor of information technology products gave a weak revenue forecast.

FTD dived 32.6% to $4.55 after the flower and gift delivery company said Valentine’s Day sales were less than it expected.

Wynn Resorts rose 6.4% to $179.11. A month after CEO Steve Wynn stepped down, the casino operator raised its dividend and said its business is doing well.

Friday could be another dramatic day on Wall Street as investors review the government’s February jobs report. Stocks tumbled after the January report showed unexpectedly strong growth in wages, which set off worries about inflation.

Investors expect February’s jobs report will show another month of strong hiring. According to FactSet, they expect to see that hourly wages grew 2.8%. That’s similar to last month’s report.

Friday is also the ninth anniversary of the current bull market. March 9, 2009, was the lowest point for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index after the 2008-09 financial crisis that touched off the Great Recession. The index has roughly quadrupled since then, and it’s about five months away from becoming the longest bull market since World War II.

Bond prices edged up Thursday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.85% from 2.88%. Bank stocks fell, because lower yields mean banks can’t make as much money from lending.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.03, or 1.7%, to $60.12 a barrel. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 73 cents, or 1.1%, to $63.61 a barrel. Gold fell $5.90 to $1,321.70 an ounce. Wholesale gasoline fell 4 cents to $1.87 a gallon. Heating oil fell 2 cents to $1.86 a gallon. Natural gas fell 2 cents to $2.76 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Silver rose 1 cent to $16.50 an ounce. Copper fell 6 cents to $3.08 a pound.

The dollar rose to 106.24 yen from 106.07 yen. The euro fell to $1.2306 from $1.2403.