European shares gained on potential exemptions from the Trump administration’s slew of tariffs. Both London and European benchmarks gained. Wall Street was mixed among choppy trading, and Asia was mostly down.
Wall Street rises modestly
Two of Wall Street’s three key benchmarks moved slightly higher following choppy trading. The DOW fell -0.1%, the S&P 500 remained close to unchanged at +0.0%, and the NASDAQ increased +0.2%. Tesla fell -0.4% following yesterday’s +12.0% rally. Crowdstrike increased +4.5% after a broker raised its rating on the cybersecurity specialist. In rates markets, the US 2-year treasury yield fell -3 bps to 4.00%, while the 10-year fell -3 bps to 4.30%.
Tariff exemptions push Europe into the positives
Investors gained confidence in the stock market as the Trump administration said that not all proposed levies would take effect next week. The President suggested some countries would potentially receive exemptions. The Stoxx 600 closed +0.7% higher, while London’s FTSE 100 gained a more modest +0.3%. In stocks, Smiths Group added +4.7% after it reported a pre-tax profit of £228m in 1H25, roughly £50m higher than this period last year. Bellway gained +13.0% after it reported a nearly +20% increase in pre-tax profit. Kingfisher sunk -14.0% after it reported pre-tax profit of £307m, down -30% from last year.
Asia mostly down while Australia and New Zealand up
The ASX 200 added +0.1% amid reports suggesting more tariffs from the US. James Hardie continued its downslope, it fell -2.0% further following the AZEK acquisition news. The NZX 50 added +0.5%. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was the only benchmark to escape a downturn, rising +0.5%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sunk -2.4%, Korea’s Kospi lost -0.6%, and China’s CSI 300 fell -0.1%. The Shanghai Composite closed nearly unchanged (-0.0%).
WTI Crude down, Gold and Iron Ore up
WTI Crude fell -0.4% to US$68.86/bbl, Gold gained +0.3% to US$3,021.69/oz, Iron Ore rose +0.2% to US$102.21/MT.
NZ Headlines
The Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index fell by -3.3 points to 88.3 in the March quarter. That marked the lowest reading since September 2020, after the first COVID-19 lockdown. A reading under 100 indicates that pessimists outnumbered optimists.
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