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Live S&P 500 (VOO): Market Rises Despite China Retaliating on Tariffs Again
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24/7 Wall St. Insights:
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As news of China’s retaliatory tariffs broke, stock futures were tumbling hard in premarket trading Wednesday.
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When the market opened for trading, however, the market indices jumped at the opening bell with the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) rising almost 1%.
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Goldman Sachs Walks Recession Talk Back
Goldman Sachs pulled back its recession warning on April 9, 2025, after Trump paused tariffs for 90 days (excluding China). Earlier, it had hiked recession odds to 45% from 35%, slashed 2025 GDP growth to 0.5%, and flagged a downturn if tariffs rose 20 points. With 125% tariffs still aimed at China, risks remain.
Bessent the Winner?
There has been reports that the battle around tariffs in the White House has pitted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent against trade hawks like Peter Navarro.
With a pause on tariffs announced and Bessent speaking to the media, it seems that Bessent ‘won’ the battle inside the White House.
BREAKING: 90-Day Pause on Tariffs
Trump just announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for many countries. Some like China that have retaliated will be excluded.
Markets Reverse Course Again
The S&P 500 is moving into negative territory for the second time today amid ongoing market volatility, driven by escalating global trade tensions as China imposed 84% tariffs on U.S. goods, the EU set tariffs for April 15, and Canada confirmed 25% levies on U.S. vehicles, following U.S. tariffs of 104% on Chinese imports.
Despite a brief lift from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s lead role in tariff talks and Trump’s call for calm, stocks remained shaky.
S&P 500 Early Winners and Losers
As the trade war escalates, neither the U.S. or China appear ready to blink. Beijing says it is willing to “fight to the end” while President Trump says China doesn’t hold the cards to draw out the battle for very long.
After Trump hiked tariffs on China to 104%, Beijing retaliated by raising import duties on U.S. goods to 84%. Some are calling for Trump to “squeeze” China even more.
Canadian businessman and star of the TV show “Shark Tank” Kevin O’Leery said “It’s time to squeeze Chinese heads into the wall now!” and called for Trump to hit China with 400% tariffs.
Whether investors think China’s President Xi will break first or not, the stock market is no longer panicking. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:VOO) is rising 0.7% in early morning trading as its components begin to reverse yesterday’s losses and move strongly higher.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is up 3% this morning, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is up 4%, and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is almost 2% higher.
Stock futures give a head fake
Market futures had been signaling another major selloff would happen today with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures down almost 800 points ahead of the bell. Instead, the index is now up almost 200 points.
Similarly, the S&P 500 was indicating another rout would be in the works today after China’s retaliatory tariffs were announced, but at the opening bell the benchmark index roared out of the gate.
It may not be so surprising VOO was jumping instead of falling. Data from ETF.com shows investors were piling into ETFs as market volatility spiked. VOO saw $4.1 billion in inflows as it wasn’t retail investors running scared. According to JPMorgan Chase, as the Dow tumbled more than 1,500 points on two consecutive days last week, retail investors bought $2.8 billion worth of stock, the second-highest level on record.
Hedge funds, however, were running around with their hair on fire, dumping stocks at the fastest rate in over a decade. Money managers also scaled back their exposure to U.S. equities to levels last seen in 2023.
Small investors saw it as a buy-the-dip opportunity, and with their favorite stocks sporting a discount that hasn’t been seen in a while, they have been scooping them up by the handful.
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