Wall Street climbs as European markets close higher on trade deal hopes – business live

Porsche sales slumped in the first three months of the year as an increase in deliveries to the US was overshadowed by falls in Europe and China, while Donald Trump’s trade war has triggered uncertainty in the global car industry.

The German car manufacturer reported a 37% rise in North American deliveries in the period from January to March, hitting 20,698, which Porsche said was partly because of low figures last year when car deliveries were delayed due to import restrictions on Chinese components.

However, the growth in American orders was not enough to offset steep falls in China, Germany and the rest of Europe – where deliveries fell by 42%, 34% and 10% respectively. Overall, deliveries of Porsche cars fell by 8% in the first quarter of the year to 71,470.

Slowing orders come as the US president enforces a 25% levy on car imports to the US, as part of a bigger package of trade tariffs that has caused a brutal sell-off in global stock markets.

Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni will travel to the US next week for talks on tariffs with Donald Trump, her office has said.

Meloni has called Trump’s decision on tariffs a mistake, but warned that EU countermeasures could escalate a trade war, and called for negotiations to mitigate the crisis.

Italy last year ran the third-largest trade surplus in the EU for goods with the US, after Germany and Ireland.

FTSE 100 closed 208.5 points up at 7,910.5, a 2.7% rise

France’s CAC closed 131.9 points up at 5,265.0 a 2.6% rise

Germany’s DAX rose 2.5% to 20,280.3, up 490.6 points

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 2.7%

US trade representative Jamieson Greer has said Donald Trump is not expected to announce exemptions to his global tariffs “in the near term”.

Greer, speaking before the US Senate finance committee on Tuesday, said:

The president has been clear, again, that he’s not doing exemptions or exceptions in the near term.

He added that “Swiss cheese” in the process would undermine the goal of trade reciprocity.

Asked if there is a timeline for negotiations, Greer said:

We don’t have any particular timeline set on that because … the outcome is more important than setting something artificially for us.

“What I can say is I’m moving as quickly as possible, and a lot of these countries are moving very quickly,” he added.

Canada’s main stock index rose on Tuesday after three straight sessions of losses as investors watch for any signs of the US opening up for tariff negotiations.

Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 2% at 23,325.64 points.

Reuters cites Graham Priest, investment advisor at BlueShore Financial, as saying:

The TSX often mirrors US indices, and with those showing cautious optimism today after tariff-driven sell-offs, any overnight developments — especially if China doubles down — could trigger volatility.

Donald Trump supporter and billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman says he is calling for a “30, 60, or 90- day pause before the tariffs are implemented tomorrow” in a post on X.

He said yesterday that the president is losing the confidence of business leaders and should pause his trade war – which could cause an economic collapse while damaging his supporters the most.

“The president has an opportunity to call a 90-day time out,” Ackman said on Sunday in a post on X, to resolve trade issues via negotiation.

But this afternoon he clarified his remarks:

Some have misinterpreted my thoughts on tariffs. I am totally supportive of President @realDonaldTrump using tariffs to eliminate tariffs and unfair trading practices of our trading partners, and to induce more investment and manufacturing in our country.

I am advocating for a 30, 60, or 90- day pause before the tariffs are implemented tomorrow to enable negotiations to be completed without a major global economic disruption that will harm the most vulnerable companies and citizens of our country.

If a country does not negotiate in good faith, then @realDonaldTrump can bring the hammer down, but doing so without giving time to make deals creates unnecessary harm. I welcome the counterpoint.

India is seeking to strike more trade deals with other countries at a time of “global uncertainty”, its finance minister, Nirmala Sitharam, said before talks with the UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves.

Sitharam, who serves as finance and corporate affairs minister in Narendra Modi’s government, said she was hopeful the UK and India would finalise a free trade deal “sooner rather than later”.

Speaking at the Indian high commission during a visit to London, Sitharam said global uncertainties were “multiplying by the day”, which was “driving many countries to clearly be active on [seeking] bilateral arrangements” that went beyond their old ideological and political ties.

“India is also looking at many bilateral arrangements. In the recent past, we’ve signed agreements with Australia, the UAE, with Oman, and we’re looking forward to concluding the bilateral trade agreement with the UK, negotiating also with the EU,” she said. “I think that’s the way the world is going.”

Oil prices ticked higher on Tuesday but remained near four-year lows.

Brent futures were up 66 cents, or 1.03%, at $64.87 a barrel at 10:13am EST.

In the latest example of name-calling among Donald Trump’s top aides, billionaire Elon Musk has described the president’s trade adviser as a “moron”.

In an attempt to distance himself from Trump’s tariffs, Tesla CEO Musk posted on X that Peter Navarro is “truly a moron”.

He wrote:

Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false.

It comes as Navarro dismissed Musk’s push for “zero tariffs“ between the United States and Europe, calling him a “car assembler” reliant on parts from other countries.

Navarro, widely seen as the architect of Trump’s tariff plans, told CNBC Musk had done a good job with his work to streamline government, but his comments on tariffs were not surprising given his role as “car person,” the latest salvo in a growing feud between the Trump advisers.

“When it comes to tariffs and trade, we all understand in the White House – and the American people understand – that Elon is a car manufacturer, but he’s not a car manufacturer. He’s a car assembler,” Navarro said, adding that many Tesla parts came from Japan, China and Taiwan.

“He’s a car person. That’s what he does, and he wants the cheap foreign parts.”

India and China should stand together to overcome difficulties in the face of tariffs imposed by US president Donald Trump’s administration, the spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in India said on Tuesday.

“China-India economic and trade relationship is based on complimentarity and mutual benefit. Facing the US abuse of tariffs … the two largest developing countries should stand together to overcome the difficulties,” spokesperson Yu Jing said in a post on X.

With stocks flying on both sides of the Atlantic, after big gains in Asia, here’s a quick recap.

Global stock markets are recovering some of their recent heavy losses, on hopes that some of America’s trading partners can strike deals to avoid Donald Trump’s new tariffs.

Shares are romping higher on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 index jumped by 3.3% in early trading.

US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that other countries appear to be more willing to negotiate than China. He explained:

“If they come to the table with solid proposals, I think we can end up with some good deals, and part of the calculus of that may be that some part of the tariffs stay on.”

Bessent also claimed the US holds a substantial advantage over China in the trade talks. He told CNBC:

“I think it was a big mistake, this Chinese escalation, because they’re playing with a pair of twos.”

China has refused, so far, to fold, though – overnight, it vowed to “fight to the end” if the US continues to escalate the trade war.

Donald Trump has posted that China wants to make a deal, adding that “we are waiting for their call”.

Earlier today, China’s CSI 300 share index rose by 1.7%, while Japan’s Nikkei surged by 6%.

The UK’s FTSE 100 has jumped by 3.5%, which would be its best day since February 2022.

Across Europe, the Stoxx 600 index is now up 3.4%, on track for its best day since March 2022.

The City money markets are expecting the Bank of England (BoE) to cut interest rates next month, with a small chance of a large cut.

Rachel Reeves stepped in to soothe stock market jitters, telling parliament she had spoken to Andrew Bailey, the governor of the BoE, who confirmed “markets are functioning effectively and that our banking system is resilient”.

Reeves argued again that a trade war “is in nobody’s interest”, confirming that the UK was seeking to negotiate a new deal with the US and that she would meet the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, “shortly”.

Goldman Sachs has suggested oil could plunge to just $40 per barrel in an ‘extreme scenario’ in which the trade war leads to a global slowdown and a US recession.

The sight of shares soaring on Wall Street is cheering the mood in the City.

The FTSE 100 is now up by almost 3.5% today at 7,966 points, up 264 points today. That would be its biggest daily gain since February 2022.

Every one of the 30 stocks on the Dow Jones industrial average is up in early trading.

UnitedHealth Group are the top riser, up 7.7%. after the US government yesterday announced higher than expected reimbursement rates for Medicare Advantage health plans.

They’re followed by chip giant Nvidia (+7.1%), JP Morgan (+5.6%) and Goldman Sachs (+5.1%)

Boom! Stocks are surging on Wall Street at the start of trading.

The S&P 500 share index has jumped by 3.3% as investors pile into stocks, up 169 points at 5,232 points.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which tracks 30 large US companies, has surged by 1,380 points, or 3.6%, to 39,346 points. The tech-focused Nasdaq index jumped 3.7%.

Shares are rallying after US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said that he believes the US can reach “some good deals” with trading partners.

This will bring some relief to stock holders, after the sharp plunge in share values on Thursday and Friday last week.

That follows a wild day’s trading yesterday, in which the Dow ended up down 0.9% while the S&P 500 dropped 0.2% for the day. The Nasdaq was 0.1% up.

Traders appear to be hoping that some of the tariffs announced by Donald Trump last week will be negotiated away, as some countries call the White House to agree talks.

However, as Donald Trump just posted, he is still waiting for the phone to ring from Beijing.

Today’s rally may calm concerns that Wall Street was sinking into a bear market, as AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould, explains:

“The good news is that bear markets tend to be much shorter than bull ones, even if they can be undeniably brutish and nasty and laden with traps which lure in the unwary before their work is done.

“The S&P 500’s rally on Monday takes it out of bear market territory, but the technology-laden NASDAQ Composite has fallen by 23% from its December zenith, so the situation remains delicately poised, especially as share prices seem to be hanging upon president Trump’s every word on the subject of trade and tariffs.

Donald Trump has just announced that he is waiting for China to call to begin trade negotiations.

In a post on Truth Social, the US president says he has had a ‘great call’ with South Korea’s acting leader.

Trump writes:

I just had a great call with the Acting President of South Korea. We talked about their tremendous and unsustainable Surplus, Tariffs, Shipbuilding, large scale purchase of U.S. LNG, their joint venture in an Alaska Pipeline, and payment for the big time Military Protection we provide to South Korea.

They began these Military payments during my first term, Billions of Dollars, but Sleepy Joe Biden, for reasons unknown, terminated the deal. That was a shocker to all! In any event, we have the confines and probability of a great DEAL for both countries. Their top TEAM is on a plane heading to the U.S., and things are looking good. We are likewise dealing with many other countries, all of whom want to make a deal with the United States.

Like with South Korea, we are bringing up other subjects that are not covered by Trade and Tariffs, and getting them negotiated also. “ONE STOP SHOPPING” is a beautiful and efficient process!!! China also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started. We are waiting for their call. It will happen! GOD BLESS THE USA.

Reminder: yesterday Trump threatened China with new 50% tariffs unless Beijing abandoned their new 34% retaliatory tariffs against the US, by today.

But today, China’s government says it will “fight to the end” if the US continues to escalate the trade war.

European stock markets are flying now, on track for their best day in two and a half years.

The Stoxx 600, which tracks stocks across Europe, is now up 2.7% today, which would be the biggest daily rise since October 2022.

France’s CAC has jumped by 2.5%, while Germany’s DAX index is 2.3% higher.

You can watch Scott Bessent’s CNBC interview here.

In it, the US Treasury Secretary explains that there was a discussion last night about which countries to prioritise in tariff negotiations.

Countries who have not retaliated to Donald Trump’s tariffs “will get priority in the queue”, Bessent explained, before criticising China for escalating the situation with their own tariffs on US goods.

Wall Street is on track to jump at the start of trading, in just over an hour’s time.

The futures market is indicating that the S&P 500 will jump by 2.7%, recovering some of the stinging losses suffered last week.

The Dow Jones industrial average is on track to jump by 3%, a gain of 1,160 points, which would take the Dow back up to 39,326 points.

Traders may be heartened by Treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s comments today that some 70 countries have reached out to the White House to begin talks about tariffs.

This follows solid gains in Europe, where the UK’s FTSE 100 index is now up 2.5%, or 192 points, to 7894 points, having ended Monday at a one-year closing low.

Investors are refusing to be spooked by the heightened tensions between Beijing and Washington DC. China insisted overnight that it will fight Trump’s tariffs ‘to the end’, after being threatened with new 50% tariffs by Trump yesterday unless its retaliatory tariffs were dropped swiftly.

Instead, hopes of a breakthrough in trade negotiations are rising, following reports that Japan is moving to the front of a long line of countries seeking to roll back President Donald Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs.

As Bessent put it to CNBC this morning:

“I think you are going to see some very large countries with large trade deficits come forward very quickly.

If they come to the table with solid proposals, I think we can end up with some good deals.”

Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will hold talks with Japanese officials, who are keen to remove the 24% tariff imposed on Japan.