Apple Inc led a broad advance across US equities to start the week after President Donald Trump said he spoke to the iPhone maker’s leader Tim Cook following a temporary reprieve on the reciprocal tariffs for smartphones, computers and other electronics.
The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.8% in New York, while the Nasdaq 100 Index edged up 0.6%. Both benchmarks pared bigger gains from earlier in the session, but their relative calm was a reprieve from the wide swings seen last week.
Shares of Apple Inc. advanced 2.2% after the president said he recently helped the company’s chief executive officer “and that whole business.”
Its megacap technology peers had advanced earlier in the day before giving up much of their gains. Investors snapped up defensive stocks in the afternoon session including those in the real estate, utilities and health-care sectors.
The Trump administration downplayed the exemption, saying it will still apply tariffs to a range of high-tech gadgets as part of the overall push to remake US trade.
“This lack of clarity and the prospect of upcoming sector-specific duties effectively capped further market gains,” said Quasar Elizundia, a research strategist at Pepperstone. “The relief is real but fragile, intrinsically tied to the next phase of U.S. tariff policy.”
See also: ‘Is it real?!’ NYSE trading floor erupts as Trump pauses tariffs
S&P 500 Notched Biggest Weekly Gain Since 2023
The US Customs and Border Protection announced a tariff exclusion for some electronics on Friday, only for US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and the president on Sunday to follow up by saying the reprieve was temporary and a procedural step in the longstanding plan to apply a different, specific levy to the sector.
See also: Investors should ‘tread cautiously’ as tariff deadline approaches: OCBC
Meanwhile, automakers including Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co rallied as Trump said he is exploring possible temporary exemptions to his duties on imported vehicles and parts to give auto companies more time to set up US manufacturing.
“The administration’s approach to tariffs has not been consistent and that inconsistency is now getting sector specific,” said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments.
US stocks are coming out of an intensely volatile week, when the benchmark indexes swung wildly amid news on tariffs. The swing was most extreme after Trump on Wednesday announced a 90-day pause on the levies for most countries except China. Stocks soared on that, with the S&P 500 notching its best one-day gain in 17 years and capping its best week since 2023.
Typically, extreme rallies are associated with periods of market distress. The S&P 500’s best days in history have usually preceded weaker-than-average returns in the near term.
Following its 15 largest daily gains, the US stock benchmark was higher six months later just 43% of the time, Bloomberg Intelligence data going back to 1928 show. That’s lower than the 67% probability on any given day that the gauge will advance over the subsequent half year.
In the midst of this, the first-quarter earnings season has just kicked off, with major American corporations such as Bank of America Corp, Johnson & Johnson and United Airlines Holdings Inc set to report this week.
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“First-quarter reporting season has begun and in a reporting season like no other, results will not matter,” said Julian Emanuel, chief equity and quantitative strategist at Evercore ISI. “Focus is likely to hinge heavily on guidance and how companies are navigating tariffs and demand outlook from a shaky growth environment.”
Meanwhile, data from Deutsche Bank AG shows equity positioning is below the bottom of its typical range, as discretionary investors raised positioning modestly after the reciprocal tariff reprieve but systematic strategies continued to trim sharply.
“The equity selloff so far has been driven largely by a sharp cut in positioning,” said Parag Thatte, strategist at Deutsche Bank. “However, inflows, that is new money, have continued to move into equities right through the selloff.”
Market watchers are continuing to advise caution, especially amid signs that bond markets are under stress. The tariff turmoil pushed 10-year US Treasury yields to the biggest weekly surge in over two decades as investors pulled back from US assets.
The benchmark’s rate has jumped above 4.4%, threatening to deal another blow to the US economy by pushing up borrowing costs more broadly. It also raises doubts on Treasuries’ status as the world’s safe haven, as they were battered along with the stock market for much of last week.
“Although some of the worst-case scenarios will probably not come to fruition, it does not mean that the stock market will bounce back as aggressively or sustainably as it has after other deep corrections/bear markets of the past 7 to 8 years,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. “The ‘reset process’ will continue and investors should act accordingly.”
