The S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent to 5,670, but only after careening between an earlier loss of 1.1 percent and a later gain of 1.1 percent. It’s had a pattern this week of opening with sharp drops only to finish the day higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 235 points, or 0.6 percent, to end at 42,225, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9 percent to close at 17,601. Both also veered from sharply lower in the morning to sharply higher in the afternoon before doubling back.
Elon Musk’s Tesla helped knock the market around after initially falling more than 6 percent following a report that it delivered fewer electric vehicles in the first three months of the year than it did in last year’s first quarter.
Tesla is one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks because of its immense size, and it’s faced backlash due to anger about CEO Elon Musk’s leading the US government’s efforts to cut spending. But its stock erased its loss from the morning and ended with a gain of 5.3 percent following a report from Politico that Trump has told others that Musk will step back from his government role in coming weeks.
After the market closed, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries and higher tariff rates on dozens of nations that run trade surpluses with the United States.
The president held up a chart while speaking at the White House, showing the United States would charge a 34 percent tax on imports from China, a 20 percent tax on imports from the European Union, 25 percent on South Korea, 24 percent on Japan and 32 percent on Taiwan.
Among the companies whose shares fell in after-hours trading were Deckers Outdoor, the maker of Uggs, down 9.3 percent; Lululemon was down 8.8 percent; and home products retailer Williams-Sonoma was down 8.4 percent. (AP)
