US market: S&P opens at all-time high as stocks recover over Lutnick’s 10-deal pipeline, but analysts have a warning
US markets on Friday hit an all-time high as stocks completed a comeback from the shock they had gone into after Donald Trump’s tariffs. The S&P Index opened 0.2 per cent higher at 6,158.48, topping the its previous all-time high of 6,147.43 set February 19, reported Forbes.
The Nasdaq Composite also set a fresh record after opening 0.3 per cent higher at 20,247.45 — its first all-time high since December last year.
However, the 30-share Dow Jones Industrial Average was still short by 3 per cent as compared to its December peak.
Why are US stock markets rising today?
Friday’s stock market cheer was a far cry from April, when days of choppy trading sessions worried investors and analysts alike due to US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements.
But markets have come a long way from there even as a war in the Middle East prevailed, along with concerns of a White House influence on Fed decisions.
But Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s late Thursday announcement bore good news and brought cheers for investors.
The Trump official confirmed that the White House had a slew of trade deals lined up with several countries before the 90-day tariff pause deadline came to an end.
Trump himself revealed that a trade deal between US and China had been signed.
Lutnick also shared that the system of how other negotiations will be shaped has also been sped up. He revealed that the top 10 deals of the US with it partners would be used as the benchmark for other agreements, saying that the Oval Office will “put them in the right category, and then these other countries will fit behind.”
With the US already having signed deals with China and UK, speculations are rife that Japan and India would be the next countries that sign an agreement.
Lutnick revealed that those countries which do not come to an agreement by July 9 will be categorised into “proper buckets.”
“Those who have deals will have deals, and everybody else that is negotiating with us, they’ll get a response from us and then they’ll go into that package,” he said. adding, “If people want to come back and negotiate further, they’re entitled to, but that tariff rate will be set and off we’ll go.”
The broader market has also seemingly shaken off fears about the Israel-Iran war disrupting the global supply of crude oil and sending oil prices higher.
Analysts warn
While investors cheered on Friday, Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid said that the calm might be the eye of the storm in disguise, according to Fortune.
“A rare period of 2025 calm seems to have broken out for now. It may be that we’re in the eye of the storm that was the Middle East, and later to become tariffs again,” Reid wrote in his note.
“However for now markets are not thinking about, or are not particularly concerned about, the upcoming July 9th tariff deadline,” he said.
