US stocks end higher as traders focus on tariffs, data

US stocks end higher as traders focus on tariffs, data

By Noel Randewich

Tue March 25, 2025 4:14 PM

It was a third day of betting on optimism in the hopes that Trump’s April 2^nd tariff announcement will be moderate, but today the price movement was much more erratic with the indexes well up in the morning, then down in the afternoon, the Dow up over a hundred in the a.m., then down over a hundred in the p.m., but all closing near break-even except the Nasdaq that had a more robust day.  

But tariff and inflation fears abound as evidenced in today’s consumer confidence reading at 92, down over 7 points, its lowest in four years, and pointing very much to economic pessimism. More data coming this week but the big one is Friday’s PCE report, the main Fed inflation gauge. And, of course, all eyes are on February 2^nd hoping for clarity but, per today’s expert, “I don’t expect that we’ll get the clarity the market is hoping for.”  Volume was well below the average of 16.4 billion, coming in at 13. 

DJ: 42,583.32  +597.97      NAS: 18,188.59  +404.54      S&P: 5,767.57  +100.01       3/24

DJ: 42,587.50  +4.18          NAS: 18,271.86  +83.26        S&P: 5,776.65  +9.08           3/25

Tue 3-25-25 4:14 pm US stocks end higher as traders focus on tariffs, data | Reuters