Wall Street equity indexes close higher after US-China tariff truce

Wall Street equity indexes close higher after US-China tariff truce

By Sinéad Carew and Shashwat Chauhan

Mon May 12, 2025 6:52 PM

All three indexes catapulted into the stratosphere right out the gate and stayed that way steadily all day to close with huge gains, the biggest single-day gains in over a month. And what a relief rally it was! The Dow actually broke a +1100, the Nasdaq almost +800 and the S&P into 3-digits which it rarely does. On Friday, expectations were high, though guarded, that there would be progress this weekend in Geneva and though such progress was limited to just a 90-day pause, it was the first really positive step with China and so was greeted with great enthusiasm this morning. 

For the 90 days, tariffs on both sides will be slashed substantially but uncertainty still hangs strongly in the wings. Per today’s expert, “The market is celebrating it for the moment, but in the long run, there could be complications.” Still, it’s enough of a celebration to greatly increase the market’s risk appetite and send everyone flying back into tech. The VIX in just one day dipped 26% to close below 20 after being in the bleachers for quite some time and this easing of anxiety was further reflected in today’s volume of 20.2 billion, a considerable jump from the 16.5 billion average. 

DJ: 41,249.38  -119.07       NAS: 17,928.93  +0.78        S&P: 5,659.91  -4.03        5/9

DJ: 42,410.10  +1,160.72   NAS: 18,708.34  +779.43    S&P: 5,844.19  +184.28   5/12

Mon 5-12-25 6:52 pm Wall Street equity indexes close higher after US-China tariff truce | Reuters