By Stephen Culp and Tom Westbrook
NEW YORK/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -U.S. equity futures jumped and currency markets had some of the wildest swings for years after the U.S. paused planned tariffs on Canada and Mexico at the eleventh hour, though levies on China are due to take effect within hours.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.6% and on Tuesday the dollar had reversed gains on Mexico’s peso and the Canadian dollar, with the latter’s rollercoaster ride its biggest daily range since the pandemic roiled financial markets in March 2020.
European futures were set to bounce and the euro was back at $1.0340 after roaring back from a two-year low of $1.0125. Oil, which had jumped, was sliding.[FRX/][O/R]
The reversals were driven after the leaders of Canada and Mexico agreed to bolster border enforcement in calls with U.S. President Donald Trump, who had tied the tariffs to the flow of drugs and migrants and suspended them for a month in response.
A 10% levy on Chinese goods appears likely to proceed and recovery for Asian stocks was more muted. Australian shares were up just 0.5% and had lost 1.8% on Monday as trade-war fears swept financial markets.
“I think you see what we should get very used to, which is this kind of rollercoaster of public negotiation around tariffs and other policy,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky.
Australian shares opened 0.7% higher and Japanese stocks rose 1.6%, though gains were smaller than Monday’s losses as trade-war fears swept financial markets.
Hang Seng futures pointed to gains at the open but smaller in scale than Monday’s falls. Trump’s press secretary said he will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the next couple of days.
Tariffs take effect at 0501 GMT.
Trump’s brinkmanship and markets’ round trip reminded traders of the president’s first term in office and left the mood a mixture of relief and trepidation. Chinese markets remain shut for the Lunar New Year break, though the offshore yuan climbed back to 7.3077 per dollar from as weak as 7.3765.
The Australian dollar stood at $0.6219 after sinking as low as $0.6088 on Monday. The yen, seen as a safe haven, eased 0.3% to 155.23 per dollar.
Gold struck record highs on Monday as worry of a worldwide trade war pushed investors to safety. It traded close to those levels at $2,813 an ounce on Tuesday while Treasury futures ticked a little lower, with markets divided on whether there will be two or just one U.S. rate cut this year.
Bitcoin which had sunk close to $91,000 a day earlier, traded around $102,000.
“The increase in policy uncertainty will be hard to put back in the bottle,” noted J.P. Morgan’s chief U.S. economist, Michael Feroli.
“For the Fed, the weekend’s developments will likely reinforce their inclination to sit on the sidelines and to remain below the radar as much as possible.”
(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Nell Mackenzie, Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Jacqueline Wong)
