U.S. stocks were headed for gains early Monday, as investors reacted to President Donald Trump pausing tariffs on smartphones, PCs, and other technology goods.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 329 points, or 0.8%. S&P 500 futures rose 1.4%, and contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were up 1.7%.
The three blue-chip indexes rallied last week after Trump said he would pause most reciprocal tariffs. Officials said in a note late Friday that smartphones, computers, and Apple watches would be among the products exempt from most levies on Chinese products, as well as the 10% duty on all U.S. imports.
Trump said in a post on his social media site Truth Social on Sunday that the consumer electronics goods would be placed in a separate tariff bucket with semiconductors, rather than given a full exemption. But the market appeared to take the latest policy shift, which is likely to boost tech giants such as Apple and Nvidia, as a positive development.
“It’s still a bit chaotic, but this is a better outcome for the tech sector than when we closed on Friday and, as a result, US futures are trading higher,” Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Matt Britzman said in a research note.
Bond yields edged lower early Monday, with the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note slipping 2 basis points to 4.478%. The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against 16 other currencies, slipped 0.3%.
