U.S. Stock Market Close: Trump Administration's Market-Stabilizing Remarks Drive Major Indices Up Over 2%

As a typical recent trend in US stocks, the three major indices collectively rose after the Trump administration expressed a conciliatory stance on a series of recent conflicts.

At the close, the S&P 500 Index increased by 2.51% to 5,287.76 points, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose by 2.71% to 16,300.42 points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed by 2.66% to 39,186.98 points.

(S&P 500 Index daily chart, source: TradingView)

As the latest development after the close, US President Trump solemnly stated at the swearing-in ceremony of the new SEC Chairman Paul Atkins that he has no intention of firing Fed Chairman Powell, and it is all media hype. Trump also made some softening remarks on trade conflicts.

As background, White House National Economic Council Director Hassett just stated last Friday that Trump is studying whether he has the ability to fire Powell. Moreover, Trump himself has repeatedly discussed in front of the media "whether he has the authority to dismiss Powell."

Earlier on Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Besant also told a group of investors during a closed-door meeting that "the current state of trade conflicts is unsustainable," which is also the reason for the US stock market's rise throughout the day.

It is important to emphasize that the cause of market turmoil is precisely Trump and his aides. Therefore, it is currently unclear when their next change of stance will occur. The only certainty is that the situation in the US stock market, where one or two people's remarks can cause the market to fluctuate, will continue for the foreseeable future.

Regarding the Trump administration's remarks, Steven Blitz, chief US economist at TS Lombard, believes that this is a message they are conveying to stabilize the market, and Besant is merely stating an obvious fact.

Hot Stock Performance

Against the backdrop of recovering market sentiment, US tech giants collectively rebounded. Apple rose by 3.41%, Microsoft by 2.14%, Amazon by 3.5%, NVIDIA by 2.04%, Google-A by 2.57%, Tesla by 4.6%, Meta by 3.22%, and AMD by 0.82%.

Chinese concept stocks also performed well. At the close, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rose by 3.69%. Among them, Alibaba increased by 5.20%, JD.com fell by 1.15%, Baidu rose by 1.63%, Pinduoduo by 4.22%, Bilibili by 3.15%, NIO by 4.17%, NetEase by 2.44%, Futu Holdings by 6.38%, Li Auto by 2.46%, XPeng Motors by 4.78%, and EHang by 6.67%.

Company News

[Tesla's Poor Earnings Data, but Market Celebrates Musk's Refocus on Business]

After the market closed on Tuesday, Tesla, deeply embroiled in political turmoil, released a first-quarter report with core performance completely below expectations. Due to a sharp drop in car deliveries, the company's revenue, profit, and other core financial indicators were all significantly lower than expected.

The market's most focused issue was Musk's statement during the earnings call that he would significantly reduce the time spent on the "Government Efficiency Department," causing a sharp rise in the stock price after hours. Musk said, "I think starting next month, May, my time investment in DOGE will be greatly reduced."

Musk predicts that he will still maintain a certain level of involvement during the "remaining term of the presidency," but will soon allocate more time to Tesla. He also stated that he will continue to advocate for tariff reductions. Affected by this, as of the time of writing, Tesla's after-hours stock price rose by more than 3%.

[Apple's US Website Removes "Now Available" Label for AI Feature Upon Request]

On Tuesday local time, the US advertising industry self-regulatory organization National Advertising Division (NAD) issued a notice detailing the investigation results of Apple's AI advertising. In short, the agency determined that Apple engaged in misleading advertising and proposed modifications. Apple responded that although the company disagrees with the investigation's conclusions, it appreciates the opportunity to cooperate with NAD and has followed its advice to adjust the relevant pages, including removing the "Now Available" label for Apple Intelligence.

[OpenAI Interested in Acquiring Google's Chrome Browser]

Nick Terry, head of OpenAI's ChatGPT, stated during a court hearing on Google's monopoly case on Tuesday that if the court orders the breakup of Google, OpenAI is interested in acquiring Google's Chrome browser.

[Boeing Sells Digital Aviation Solutions Business for $10.55 Billion]

Boeing announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to sell part of its digital aviation solutions business to acquisition company Thoma Bravo for $10.55 billion. Boeing hopes to focus on its core business and alleviate the pressure of huge losses through this transaction.

[Meta Officially Launches Edits, a Competitor to CapCut]

Meta announced on Tuesday the official launch of Edits, a video creation application that competes with CapCut. All features of the app are free to use initially, but paid items may be added later.