STORY: The three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher on Tuesday, aided by energy stocks, while investors saw reason for optimism for a trade breakthrough between the U.S. and China after President Donald Trump delayed tariffs for Canada and Mexico.
The Dow added three tenths of one percent while the S&P 500 gained seven tenths, and the Nasdaq rose 1.3%.
Trump had said over the weekend he would impose a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada, but agreed to a 30-day pause on Monday in return for border and crime concessions from both countries.
Melissa Brown, managing director of investment decision research at SimCorp, says investors are getting a break today but should expect more market turbulence.
“Yeah, I think it’s just a rebound from from yesterday. But I think, you know, we maybe we got a one month reprieve on tariffs, but this is gonna come up again in a month. I think it’s gonna keep markets choppy and uncertain until you know, this whole issue of tariffs gets resolved.”
In the meantime, strong corporate earnings are helping to provide more support to investors.
Of the 211 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings for the fourth quarter, nearly 80% have come in above analyst expectations, according to an S&P earnings scorecard.
Though after the closing bell, Google-parent Alphabet posted quarterly revenue that missed estimates and said its capital expenditures connected to artificial intelligence would be about 30% higher than analysts predicted.
Shares, which had closed up 2.5%, fell eight percent in extended trading following the results.
Shares of data analytics company Palantir fared much better, jumping 24% during the trading session after it forecast first-quarter and annual revenue above Wall Street estimates.
