Markets End Higher Despite Tariff Uncertainty and Weak Consumer Confidence

Stocks closed higher as traders brushed off a sharp decline in consumer confidence and uncertainty over tariffs. Pharma and utilities fell while gold stocks surged.

The Nasdaq climbed 83.26 points (0.5%) to 18,271.86, the S&P 500 rose 9.08 points (0.2%) to 5,776.65 and the Dow inched up 4.18 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 42,587.50.

Trump said at an event on Monday that he may give a lot of countries breaks on reciprocal tariffs that are set to take effect April 2nd. However, he also said he plans to impose tariffs on the automotive and pharmaceutical industries in the very near future and later added the lumber and semiconductor industries to his list of targets. The president has recently made many conflicting remarks about his tariff plans, leading to considerable uncertainty on Wall Street.

The traders shrugged off a report from the Conference Board showing consumer confidence in the U.S. deteriorated by more than expected in the month of March. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index tumbled to 92.9 in March from an upwardly revised 100.1 in February. "Consumer confidence declined for a fourth consecutive month in March, falling below the relatively narrow range that had prevailed since 2022," said Stephanie Guichard, Senior Economist, Global Indicators at The Conference Board.

Despite the higher close by the broader markets, pharmaceutical stocks moved sharply lower on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index down by 2.0%. Utilities stocks were considerably weak, as reflected by the 1.6% loss posted by the Dow Jones Utility Average. Airline, healthcare and biotechnology stocks were notably weak while gold stocks moved higher along with the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 1.6%.

Asia-Pacific stocks turned in a mixed performance. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 0.6% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled by 2.4%. The major European markets moved upside while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3%, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both jumped by 1.1%.

In the bond market, treasuries moved higher over the course of the session after seeing initial weakness. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 2.4 bps to 4.30%.

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