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As on : 28-May-2025

Market Commentary - Foreign Markets
28-May-2025 10:31

Wall Street Soars as Trump Delays EU Tariff, Consumer Confidence Surges

The Nasdaq shot up 461.96 points (2.5%) to 19,199.16, the S&P 500 surged 118.72 points (2.1%) to 5,921.54 and the Dow jumped 740.58 points(1.8%) to 42,343.65.

Wall Street rallied after Trump delayed the 50% EU tariff to July 9, 2025, following a request from EU Commission President von der Leyen. He said talks would begin quickly and hoped the EU, like China, would open up to U.S. trade.

Conference Board released a report showing a substantial improvement by U.S. consumer confidence in the month of May in response to which a positive sentiment was recorded. It also said it's confidence index spiked to 98 in May after plunging to a downwardly revised 85.7 in April.

Airline stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 4.9%. Semiconductor stocks displayed substantial strength, as reflected by the 3.4% spike by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Networking, computer hardware and banking stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Asia-Pacific stocks region turned in a mixed performance. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.5%while China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped by 0.2%. European stocks moved mostly higher on the day. The German DAX Index advanced by 0.8%and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.7%, although the French CAC 40 Index closed just below the unchanged line.

In the bond market, treasuries extended the upward move seen over the two previous sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, tumbled 7.5 bps to 4.43%.

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