Posted on 05/15/2019 10:21:14 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Stocks reversed early losses Wednesday amid reports that the Trump administration is planning to delay auto tariffs by up to six months.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.6%, or 17.09 points, as of 12:33 p.m. ET, as the materials sector outperformed. The Dow (^DJI) rose 0.48%, or 123 points, while the Nasdaq (^IXIC) edged up 0.98%, or 75.73 points.
On Wednesday, several news outlets reported that the Trump administration is planning to pause on implementing auto tariffs ahead of a May 18 deadline. The Commerce Department had compiled a report earlier this year that concluded Trump could justify imposing tariffs of as high as 25% on cars by citing a national security threat.
The news sent stocks into the green, after the Dow was off by as many as 190 points earlier in the session.
U.S. equity markets initially opened lower as new economic data on April retail sales and industrial production came in lower-than-expected.
Retail sales in the U.S. fell 0.2% in April, when consensus economists had anticipated a 0.2% gain. In the control group, which excludes volatile auto and gas sales, retail sales also fell 0.2% month-over-month. But for the month prior, this control group was upwardly revised to see a 1.1% gain, putting the three-month over three-month annualized growth rate at 3.2%, a five-month high, according to Capital Economics.
Analysts from JP Morgan noted that lower refunds during this year’s tax season may have contributed to weakness in household spending in April.
JPM on retail sales miss: "One possible explanation for the softening in consumer outlays last month is tax season, which looks like it may have been worse than households anticipated; this would also be consistent with the 5.9% tumble in unit auto sales in April."
— Sam Ro (@SamRo) May 15, 2019
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Somebody knows the script and is making a killing here.
Tariffs on cars made in China should only affect Volvo.
I can’t think of anyone else.
“There is no such thing as a 100 percent U.S. vehicle,” he told Reuters. (Bob Carter, head of U.S. sales at Toyota Motor Corp.)
I say maybe this is the one major problem. Can we ever get back to 100 percent U.S.?
Link below for article quote:
The Buick Envision is made in China
Only in an upside down world does lowering an import tariff make stocks go up. It should be the opposite.
Only one trim of one model Volvo comes from China. GM imports many more from China than Volvo.
China is big into Buicks, but I don’t know if any of them end up back here. Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense.
Is this directed at China or at Canada and Mexico?
Don’t forget there is a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico in negotiation as well as China.
If it is China, Trump just blinked. If it is Canada & Mexico negotiations are coming close to an agreement.
RE: Is this directed at China or at Canada and Mexico?
It can’t be for China. we don’t import cars from China I think (except maybe Volvo, but I think they’re still made in Europe ).
This will be for North America and Europe.
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