By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A gauge of global stocks was little changed after erasing earlier declines, while U.S. Treasury yields advanced on Tuesday as investors assessed the latest U.S. tariff salvo and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled a patient path for rate cuts.
President Donald Trump on Monday raised tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 25% from the previous 10%, eliminated country exceptions, as well as product-specific exclusions, and promised to announce global reciprocal tariffs within days.
But Trump also said he was considering an exemption for Australia and that the steel and aluminum measures would only take effect from March 4, keeping alive the view for some investors that the duties are being used as a negotiating tool.
Mexico, Canada and the European Union on Tuesday condemned the move, with the EU saying the 27-nation bloc would take “firm and proportionate countermeasures”.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was virtually unchanged as the benchmark index erased its earlier declines. Powell indicated the central bank was in no rush to adjust its policy stance, and also said it was not the role of the Fed to comment on tariff or trade policy, but to react to its impact on the economy.
“It seems like he’s trying to urge people to not trade off those headlines, to not make moves off those headlines and wait and see what actually happens,” said Helen Given, FX Trader at Monex USA in Washington.
“We’ve seen a lot of volatility come off of tariff headlines in the last two weeks. But what we’re seeing now is that those headlines and those announcements are not necessarily an indication that these tariffs are actually going to be levied, at least not at the time that we think that they might be.”
A gain of nearly 4% in Coca-Cola shares helped lift the Dow Industrials into positive territory after the beverage company reported its quarterly results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.40 points, or 0.09%, to 44,511.24, the S&P 500 fell 0.64 points, or 0.01%, to 6,065.80 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 43.80 points, or 0.22%, to 19,670.47.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 0.28 points, or 0.03%, to 873.51.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.23% to close at a record high, led by bank stocks.
Treasury yields maintained gains after Powell’s opening statement as investor attention turns to the latest reading of consumer prices on Wednesday.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 3.4 basis points to 4.529%.
Markets have been slowly scaling back expectations for rate cuts from the U.S. central bank this year, largely expecting the Fed to hold rates steady at its March and May meetings. For the June Fed meeting, markets are pricing in a 51% chance for a cut of at least 25 basis points in June, down from 63.6% a week ago, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback fell against a basket of currencies, 0.28% to 108.06, with the euro up 0.38% at $1.0345.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.3% to 152.45 while sterling firmed 0.47% to $1.2422.
Oil prices rose to a two-week high on Russian and Iranian supply concerns, although the tariff announcement curbed gains somewhat.
U.S. crude rose 1.31% to $73.27 a barrel and Brent advanced to $76.95 per barrel, up 1.42% on the day.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, additional reporting by Karen Brettell in New York, Shashwat Chauhan and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; editing by Mark Heinrich and Aurora Ellis)
