By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Major stock indexes rose on Wednesday as Nvidia climbed to a $4-trillion valuation, while the euro slipped against the dollar, with the European Union saying it could reach a trade agreement outline with the United States in the coming days.
U.S. President Donald Trump promised he would deliver further tariff notices on unnamed countries.
On Tuesday, Trump broadened his trade war, announcing he would impose a 50% tariff on imported copper. The move sent U.S. copper prices soaring and U.S. stock prices lower. He also said he would soon introduce levies of up to 200% for pharmaceuticals.
On Wednesday, U.S. copper futures widened their premium to the London benchmark.
“Certainly President Trump and the administration have shown a willingness to change course, and what’s on the table today doesn’t necessarily mean it will be on the table tomorrow,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors in Westport, Connecticut.
“Investors I think are ignoring that noise, and the reason they’re ignoring that noise is that the greatest fear of the tariffs was they were going to create a significant amount of inflationary pressure and economic disorder, and it hasn’t happened on a broad basis,” he said.
Investors are awaiting further developments in Trump’s trade war in the coming days, after he told 14 nations on Monday they will face sharply higher tariffs from a new deadline of August 1.
Helping U.S. stocks, artificial intelligence leader Nvidia notched a market capitalization of $4 trillion, making it the first public company in the world to reach the milestone.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.69 points, or 0.07%, to 44,272.15, the S&P 500 climbed 10.39 points, or 0.16%, to 6,235.46 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 82.75 points, or 0.4%, to 20,499.80.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 3.15 points, or 0.34%, to 922.46. The pan-European STOXX 600 index gained 0.68%.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.03% to 97.58, with the euro down 0.1% at $1.1712.
The dollar earlier touched its highest level in more than two weeks against the yen, as Japan, which depends on exports, stands out among major U.S. trading partners as being the farthest from reaching a trade deal with Washington. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was last down 0.13% at 146.36.
Investors concerned that higher tariffs could increase inflation and slow economic growth will pay close attention to the latest meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve, due to be released later on Wednesday.
U.S. Treasury yields dipped though benchmark 10-year yields held near a more than two-week high as investors waited on a $39-billion sale of the notes that will offer further guidance on demand for longer-dated debt.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes was last down 3.6 basis points at 4.381%, after reaching 4.435% on Tuesday, the highest since June 20.
European government bonds were little changed, with the benchmark 10-year German yield at 2.637%.
U.S. crude rose 0.09% to $68.38 a barrel and Brent rose to $70.19 per barrel, up 0.06%.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; editing by Joe Bavier, Mark Heinrich and Rod Nickel)
