The NASDAQ and S&P 500 hit record highs at closing on Friday, as the U.S. stock market has found renewed momentum after experiencing a large correction when President Donald Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs.
The stock market surge comes after Trump brokered several trade deals and peace agreements with allies and adversaries alike, quelling uncertainty among investors and fear of a global trade war, or worse, a hot war.
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After Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs hit, affecting nearly every country, the market lost $5.83 trillion in value. It was the “steepest four days of losses since the index was created in the 1950s,” according to a University of Michigan analysis.
In the bullish move, the NASDAQ rose from around 15,200 points in April to 20,200 on Friday. The S&P 500 rose from around 4,980 points to 6,170 points in the same time period. The Dow Jones index has not quite hit its all-time high of just over 45,000 points yet, but it surged from 37,600 points to 43,800 by Friday’s close.
Bitcoin also reached a new high of $111,000 per coin after returning to pre-“Liberation Day” levels. It dipped as low as $75,000 in April, its lowest since Trump’s election in 2024.
The main motivators for the surges include Trump’s pause of the “Liberation Day” tariffs, which expires July 9, the trade deals he has brokered, and the peace deals he has negotiated.
The president said he has made deals with “four or five different countries,” notably including the United Kingdom and a tentative agreement with China. He also helped end conflicts between India and Pakistan, Iran and Israel, and Congo and Rwanda, and he has been trying to get ceasefires agreed to in the Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Hamas wars. His peace efforts have gotten him nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize, something he has complained about not receiving for his work to end conflicts abroad.
The market could be headed for another downturn if more trade deals are not made before the pause expires. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has signaled that he would be willing to give countries more time to negotiate deals, saying he hopes deals with trading partners would be “wrapped up by Labor Day,” adding that “nothing gets done in Washington well in advance.”
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When Trump was asked whether he would reimpose the tariffs on July 9, he said, “We can do whatever we want.”
“We could extend it. We could make it shorter,” Trump said. “I’d like to make it shorter. I’d like to just send letters out to everybody, ‘Congratulations, you’re paying 25%.’”