U.S. Stocks Rise for a Second Week as Tariff Fears Recede: Growing risk appetite across Wall Street
helped drive the S&P 500 to its longest winning streak in two decades,
As the impact of April’s tariff shock faded, new signs emerged of improving
Diplomatic relations between the United States and China.

Contents

Index Performance

Jobs and the Economy

Warnings Against Excessive Optimism

U.S. Corporate Earnings

Index Performance

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 climbed more than 1% each on Friday,
marking their second consecutive week of gains.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index declined, and U.S. Treasury bonds fell,
causing the yield on the 2-year notes to be
The most sensitive to monetary policy—
to rise by over 10 basis points, reaching 3.83%.

In the commodities market, oil prices fell as OPEC+ discussed the possibility of another significant production increase.
At the same time, demand for safe-haven assets weakened, pushing gold prices lower for the second week in a row.

Jobs and the Economy

A jobs report released on Friday showed a relative slowdown in the U.S. labor market

and highlighted the market’s continued resilience.
This helped ease fears that President Donald Trump’s policies could negatively impact the U.S. economy.
Recent developments also point to reduced trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

Kevin Thozet, a member of the investment committee at Carmignac in Paris, said:

“It seems we may have reached the peak of policy uncertainty.
Talks are ongoing, and Trump appears to have eased some of his stances.
Adding to a relatively joyous earnings season, the overall picture is not bad.”

Warnings Against Excessive Optimism

Despite the recent rise, some analysts warned that the worst may not be over.
A veteran technical strategist, Tom DeMark, stated that U.S. stocks might face a new decline,
potentially pushing the indexes into bear market territory in the coming months.

Lawrence Creatura, a fund manager at PRSPCTV Capital,
said it is still too early to determine the exact impact of tariffs on U.S. companies.

Creatura added:

“Many people expected an economic disaster based on the liberation day and the following events.
And every time that disaster doesn’t happen, it’s seen as good news.
But it’s probably too early. Many of the issues people fear haven’t yet appeared in the data.”

He pointed out that most companies report first-quarter earnings for March 31, before Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement.

In a related development, China announced that it is considering resuming trade talks with the U.S.,
A report indicated that Beijing has started exempting some American goods from tariffs.

U.S. Corporate Earnings

Despite the pressure caused by weak earnings from Apple and Amazon, markets recovered from the impact by Friday.

Two analysts downgraded their recommendations for Apple’s stock following the company’s earnings release,
which intensified concerns over tariffs and future growth potential.
The stock dropped by 3.7%, losing about 18% of its value since the beginning of the year.

As for Amazon, it announced expectations for a more challenging business environment in the coming months.
Although it reported solid Q1 results on Thursday, the company warned that current
quarter operating profits could fall below Wall Street expectations,
leading to a decline in its share price by the end of trading.

U.S. Stocks Rise for a Second Week as Tariff Fears Recede

U.S. Stocks Rise for a Second Week as Tariff Fears Recede

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