The Albany Gazette - Stocks rise, dollar sags on tech tariff twist

Technology shares jumped in early Wall Street deals in reaction to late Friday's announcement by the Trump administration of tariff exemptions for smartphones, laptops, semiconductors and other electronics -- all key Chinese-made products.

But they later pared their gains as investors digested the other weekend news -- Trump suggesting that the exemptions would be temporary.

By midday the tech-heavy Nasdaq index was flat, with Amazon, Facebook parent Meta and chip-maker Nvidia in the red while Apple and Google owner Alphabet were still up.

"Washington's partial retreat from its hard-line tariff regime -- specifically the temporary exemption of a raft of tech goods from punitive import levies -- has momentarily eased fears of an all-out trade war," said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at City Index and Forex.com.

Trump said Sunday that the exemptions had been misconstrued and that no country would get "off the hook" in his trade war -- especially China.

As his team pursued fresh tariffs against many items on the list, including on semiconductors "over the next week", Trump said electronics were only moved to a different tariff "bucket".

"The comment has only added to confusion and reinforced the idea that the exemptions are not permanent, keeping uncertainty elevated as the new week begins," said David Morrison, analyst at financial services platform Trade Nation.

"The US dollar remained under pressure, with ongoing trade tensions denting its appeal," Morrison said.

The dollar fell against the euro and other major currencies after briefly paring back losses earlier.

US Treasuries also recovered somewhat but yields remained high following a sell-off last week that called into question the reliability of US government bonds as a haven investment.

There has been speculation that China contributed to the turmoil in the US bond market by selling Treasury holdings.

Gold, a go-to asset of safety in times of turmoil, hit a new peak of $3,245.75 an ounce Monday before paring back gains.

"Unless a broader (US-China) trade accord is struck soon, the stalemate could continue to hold back risk appetite," Razaqzada said.

"While this softening of tone (on tariffs) may appear constructive on the surface, it doesn't meaningfully shift the dial unless accompanied by substantive progress in US-China trade relations," he said.

- Key figures around 1550 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 40,289.37 points

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.3 percent at 5,377.06

New York - Nasdaq: FLAT at 16,732.10

London - FTSE 100: UP 2.1 percent at 8,134.34

Paris - CAC 40: UP 2.4 percent at 7,273.12

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 2.9 percent at 20,954.83

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.2 percent at 33,982.36 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 2.4 percent at 21,417.40 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.8 percent at 3,262.81 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1368 from $1.1359 on Friday

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 143.02 yen from 143.49 yen

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3172 from $1.3088

Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.29 pence from 86.80 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $64.64 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.4 percent at $61.24 per barrel

(R.White--TAG)