US equities were steady at the open on Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s latest tariff warnings left room for hope that he was still open to negotiations.
The S&P 500 Index rose 0.03% by 9:32 a.m. in New York, with seven of the eleven sectors in green, and advances led by health care and energy. The Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.2%.
Among individual stocks, clean energy companies Enphase Energy Inc. and SolarEdge Technologies Inc. fall after Trump called for new rules that would restrict access to tax incentives for solar and wind projects. Ciena Corp. slipped after Morgan Stanley cut it to underweight, citing a lack of margin upside in the near term. Tesla Inc. shares rebounded, leading mega-cap tech names, after Monday’s steep selloff. Chip stocks will be in focus after Samsung Electronics Co.’s profit fell for the first time since 2023.
Trump posted letters to various nations on social media on Monday, starting with his intent to impose 25% levies on goods from Japan and South Korea, followed by a dozen more that outlined plans to tariff goods from trading partners including South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia. Still, Trump said the Aug. 1 deadline was “not 100% firm” and signaled he might tweak the rates further.
Equity investors also got another boost of confidence from strategists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. Goldman strategists raised their outlook for US stocks for the second time in two months, saying they expect the Federal Reserve to act sooner to cut interest rates. BofA’s team increased its year-end target for the S&P 500 to 6300 from 5600, saying “it’s dangerous to underestimate Corporate America.”
