Dollar rebounds and stocks climb with all eyes on Trump 2.0

NEW YORK/LONDON: World stocks rose on Tuesday and the dollar gained after plunging the previous day as Donald Trump’s return to the White House brought mixed messaging on tariffs and highlighted markets’ twitching about trade policy.

The Canadian dollar and Mexican peso bore the brunt of the market swings on Tuesday and Monday, after Trump said he was mulling imposing 25% tariffs on the neighboring countries as soon as Feb. 1.

Still, some investors were relieved that Trump did not announce a more comprehensive sweep of tariffs at the start of his second presidency, and that supported a pull-back in the 10-year Treasury bond yield .

“Markets are still absorbing the flurry of executive orders released by Trump, but there is still a sense of relief in general,” analysts at TD Securities said in a note.

A jump in the dollar had sent the Mexican peso sliding well over 1% earlier, while the Canadian dollar tumbled to a five-year low of $0.689, although the selloff later moderated somewhat , .

Jan Von Gerich, chief strategist at lender Nordea, said investors should not assume that US tariffs have been averted for good.

“We shouldn’t get too carried away by this, the fact that he didn’t start with tariffs doesn’t mean that they won’t come later,” he said. “For the global equity market, I think it’s all about Trump now.”

European shares were muted after Asia eked out small gains overnight, with investors and governments comforted by the fact that the European Union and China have dodged tariffs for now.

Europe’s continent-wide STOXX 600 index was 0.32% higher while MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index added 0.2%.

The dollar index , which measures the currency against six peers, was last up 0.2% at 108.21.

It had earlier risen to 108.79, although it failed to make back the 1.2% it lost on Monday in its biggest daily fall since November 2023.

The euro fell 0.16% to $1.03400075, after jumping 1.42% a day earlier.
The Canadian dollar and Mexican peso swung on tariff headlines on Trump’s first day

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Many investors and foreign capitals had expected tariffs to be among the raft of executive orders Trump signed in his first day in office.

The dollar has risen about 5% since Trump won the Nov. 5 election, partly as investors have braced for wide-ranging levies that would likely hurt America’s trading partners. As such, a more measured announcement from Trump on Monday with regards to tariffs knocked the U.S. dollar overnight.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields were down 4 basis points on Tuesday at 4.56%.

They were nonetheless still up around a percentage point since the Federal Reserve started cutting rates in mid-September, reflecting a strong economy and dwindling prospects for large Fed reductions this year.

Chinese stocks were steady as Trump largely steered clear of definitive threats against the country’s exports, although he warned he could impose tariffs if Beijing failed to approve a

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“It’s part of a transactional methodology,” said Timothy Graf, head of macro strategy for EMEA at State Street.

“It’s better news than just slapping 60% or 100% tariffs on something, but something is going to be coming, I would think.”

China’s CSI 300 index was unchanged while Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.32%.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday as investors assessed Trump’s plans to boost U.S. energy production, as well as the delay on tariffs.

Brent crude was down 0.9% at $79.44 a barrel, while U.S. WTI crude was 1.7% lower at $76.54 a barrel.