Stocks surge higher after early plunge on trade war fears
NEW YORK » After an early jolt, stocks have rallied back Wednesday as investors weighed whether back-and-forth tariff threats between the U.S. and China will be resolved without too much turbulence or escalate into full-fledged trade hostilities.
The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 501 points after the opening bell but made it all back, and more. Household goods makers, retailers and homebuilders led the way while technology companies reversed some early losses. Industrial and energy companies remain lower.
The early declines followed an announcement by the Chinese government that it plans to impose tariffs of 25 percent on a list of more than 100 U.S. goods worth $50 billion, including soybeans and aircraft. The duties are in retaliation for U.S. plans to raise duties on a similar amount of Chinese goods.
But none of the tariffs have taken effect yet, and Trump administration officials including National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow suggested the U.S. tariffs won’t be implemented if China lowers barriers to trade.
“The most likely outcome is smoke, but no fire,” said Bill Adams, senior international economist at PNC Financial. “The amount that both countries have invested in bilateral trade cooperation and economic cooperation is so significant that the costs of going back would be very painful, and more than either country would want to bear.”
The S&P 500 index added 27 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,642 as of 3:30 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 203 points, or 0.9 percent, to 24,237. The Nasdaq composite rose 89 points, or 1.3 percent, to 7,030. The Russell 2000 index of smallercompany stocks gained 17 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,529.
The Trump administration on Tuesday released a list of 1,300 imported Chinese products, including industrial robots and telecoms gear, subject to potential tariffs to protest Beijing’s alleged theft of U.S. technology. China’s envoy to the WTO said Beijing would challenge the U.S. moves.
Industrial companies were rocked. Aerospace company Boeing shed $5.61, or 1.7 percent, to $325.21 and farm equipment maker Deere lost $4.94, or 3.2 percent, to $148.10.
Soybean futures traded on the CBOT fell 2.2 percent.
Adams, of PNC Financial, said the tariffs would be especially painful for companies in agriculture: machinery makers in the U.S. would pay more for imported components, and they wouldn’t sell as much food in China because their products would be more expensive. He said that will stir up political pressure against the trade sanctions.
However Adams said that there was good news for food producers, as the Chinese government proposed duties on imported beef, but not pork or chicken. Hormel jumped $1.85, or 5.4 percent, to $36.07 and Tyson Foods rose $1.81, or 2.6 percent, to $71.56.
European stocks also fell. Germany’s DAX lost 0.4 percent while the CAC 40 in France dipped 0.2 percent. The FTSE 100 in Britain gained 0.1 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slumped 2.2 percent with the decline accelerating in the final minutes of trading after Beijing announced specifics of its tariff hikes. Most other Asian indexes had closed before China announced its response to the U.S. tariff plans.
The biggest worry for investors is that an escalating trade war will derail a global economy that is largely growing in unison. The U.S. economy has been humming along with a strong job market, while Brazil just last year emerged from its punishing recession and growth in the euro area has reached its highest level in a decade. The global economy is expected to grow 3.9 percent this year, which would be its strongest showing in seven years, according to the International Monetary Fund.
But economists say a trade war would drag down growth for the U.S. and other countries in a number of ways. Barriers to trade would obviously hurt U.S. exporters. But they could also hurt U.S. companies or individuals that don’t do any exporting, if they have to pay higher costs for imported products. If the higher costs causes inflation to accelerate, central banks could be forced to raise interest rates more quickly, which would put another drag on economic growth.
Elsewhere, homebuilders rose a following strong quarterly report from Lennar, which gained $6.72, or 11.8 percent, to $63.81.
After a big early loss, U.S. crude dipped 14 cents to $63.37 a barrel in New York while Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 10 cents to $68.02 a barrel in London.