The ever-volatile stock market bounced Monday as investors once again tilted toward the notion President Donald Trump’s tariffs won’t be quite as bad as first thought, with the latest rally led by the big technology stocks worst hit by the tariff-related market pullback.
Stocks gained Monday on a reported tariff reprieve.
The S&P 500 rose more than 1.4% Monday morning, hitting its highest level since March 7.
The U.S. equity benchmark is now up 4% from its six-month intraday low set March 13, though it remains 6% below its all-time high recorded in February.
The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.2%, or more than 480 points Monday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.8%, as both indexes hit their highest levels in two weeks.
The rally came thanks to “easing trade war angst” on Wall Street, explained Sevens Report founder Tom Essaye, referencing Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal’s weekend reports that Trump’s reciprocal tariffs set to go into effect next week will be far more focused in nature than Trump previously suggested.
The most notable gainers during the Monday jump were the “magnificent seven” big American technology stocks. Shares of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla all gained, led by Tesla’s 7% surge. The septet has struggled badly to open 2025 due to the more acute impact of tariffs and the rotation into safer assets, and Tesla remains the S&P’s second-biggest loser year-to-date even after the early week bounce. Even after gaining 2% Monday, Bloomberg’s magnificent seven index is down about 12% in 2025.
In another signal of improving risk appetite, bitcoin prices rose to their highest level since March 7, trading above $87,000. That’s a nearly 15% jump from the world’s largest cryptocurrency’s March low.
Over the last two months, the stock market has been highly volatile, often swinging due to the latest developments regarding Trump’s plans for his wide sweeping tariffs. Trump said Friday the reciprocal tariffs he touts as his driving economic policy will have "flexibility," as he signals that batch of tariffs will begin to roll out next Wednesday. Reciprocal tariffs seek to charge the same duty on imported goods as the same class of American goods face in the imports’ countries of origin. Significant confusion about when the reciprocal tariffs will go into place and what effective rate different goods will face contributed to increased concerns the U.S. may dip into a recession, and the Federal Reserve warned last week it expects higher inflation and lower economic growth this year due to economic uncertainty.