Asian shares jump on hopes tariff war may subside and Trump won’t fire Fed chief
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
TOKYO, Japan — Asian shares mostly rose Wednesday, with markets showing relief after President Donald Trump indicated he won’t dismiss the head of the US Federal Reserve.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.7 percent in morning trading to 34,797.22.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.6 percent to 7,943.00. South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.2 percent to 2,515.19.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.7 percent to 21,927.92. The Shanghai Composite was little changed, down less than 0.1 percent at 3,298.33.
Trump had previously said he could fire Fed chair Jerome Powell after the Fed paused cuts to short-term interest rates. But Trump told reporters Tuesday, “I have no intention of firing him.”
READ: Trump says he has ‘no intention’ of firing Federal Reserve chair
Investors were also cheered by comments from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a Tuesday speech. He said the ongoing tariffs showdown with China is unsustainable and he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war.
US stocks jumped in a widespread rally Tuesday, and other US investments steadied a day after falling sharply.
The S&P 500 climbed 2.5 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,016 points, or 2.7 percent, and the Nasdaq composite gained 2.7 percent.
All three indexes more than made up their big losses from the start of the week.
Hopes of Trump deals
The only prediction many Wall Street strategists are willing to make is that financial markets will likely continue to veer up and down. This, as hopes rise and fall that Trump may negotiate deals with other countries to lower his tariffs.
If no such deals come quickly enough, many investors expect the economy to fall into a recession.
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday slashed its forecast for global economic growth this year to 2.8 percent from 3.3 percent.
A suite of better-than-expected profit reports from big US companies, meanwhile, helped drive US stocks higher.
Elon Musk, too
Also helping market sentiment was the announcement from Elon Musk that he will spend less time in Washington and more time running Tesla.
This was after his electric vehicle company reported a big drop in profits. Its results have been hurt by vandalism, widespread protests and calls for a consumer boycott. This was amid a backlash to Musk’s oversight of cost-cutting efforts for the US government.
Tesla reported earnings after US trading closed. Tesla’s quarterly profits fell from $1.39 billion to $409 million, far below analyst estimates.
Losers on Wall Street were the exceptions, however, as 99 percent of the stocks in the S&P 500 index rose. All told, the S&P 500 climbed 129.56 points to 5,287.76.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1,106.57 to 39,186.98, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 429.52 to 16,300.42.
In the bond market, longer-term yields eased following an unsettling run higher the day before.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury pulled back to 4.39 percent from 4.42 percent late Monday.
In energy trading, benchmark US crude added $1.23 to $64.31 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 44 cents to $67.88 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar declined to 141.85 Japanese yen from 142.37 yen. The euro cost $1.1397, up from $1.1379.
