Wall Street closes slightly higher on trade hopes

The S&P 500 index has closed higher as investors were still optimistic over trade talks between the United States and its trading partners despite President Donald Trump’s latest salvo to double tariffs on imported steel and aluminium.

Trump said late on Friday he planned to increase tariffs on imported steel and aluminium to 50 per cent from 25 per cent starting on Wednesday, just hours after he accused China of violating an agreement.

China said on Monday that Trump’s accusations that it had violated the consensus reached in Geneva trade talks were “groundless” and promised to take forceful measures to safeguard its interests.

Trump’s administration wants countries to provide their best offer on trade negotiations by Wednesday as officials seek to accelerate talks with multiple partners ahead of a US-imposed deadline in just five weeks, according to a draft letter to negotiating partners viewed by Reuters.

“Markets see the latest round of tariff threats and ramped up rhetoric against China, the EU and steel as nudges to move negotiations towards the finish line,” said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group.

Shares of US steel companies rose, led by Cleveland-Cliffs, which surged 23 per cent.

Other steel-makers also rose, including Nucor and Steel Dynamics.

However, shares of car makers dropped, with Ford down almost 3.9 per cent and General Motors also falling by a similar percentage.

The increased levies risk deepening Trump’s global trade war, and dousing enthusiasm in markets stemming from the US president’s softer trade stance that drove a recovery in risky assets last month.

A temporary relief on some levies on China and a rollback of steep tariff threats on the European Union, along with strong earnings and an improving economic picture helped the benchmark S&P 500 log its best monthly performance in 18 months in May.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 35.41 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 42,305.48, the S&P 500 gained 24.25 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 5,935.94 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 128.85 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 19,242.61.

The S&P in May had tallied its biggest monthly increase since November 2023.

US-listed energy stocks advanced after producer group OPEC+ kept output increases in July at the same level as the previous two months.

Among technology stocks, Nvidia rose 1.7 per cent and Meta gained 3.6 per cent.

Tesla fell 1.1 per cent after it reported lower monthly sales for Portugal, Denmark and Sweden.

The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) survey showed US manufacturing contracted for a third straight month in May and suppliers took longer to deliver inputs amid tariffs, potentially signaling looming shortages of some goods.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank president Lorie Logan said that with the labour market stable, inflation running somewhat above target and the outlook uncertain, the central bank is keeping a watchful eye on a broad range of data to judge what response might be needed, and when.

Traders are pricing in at least two 25-basis-point cuts by the end of the year, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Investors are also looking ahead to a crucial non-farm-payrolls report on Friday to gauge the US labour market’s strength amid tariff volatility.

Volume on US exchanges was 15.67 billion shares, compared with the 17.8 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.06-to-1 ratio on the NYSE.

There were 257 new highs and 68 new lows on the NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.11-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 22 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 84 new highs and 80 new lows.