Sawt Falasteen - Wall Street lifted on hopes for softer Trump tariffs

Investor sentiment has been jolted in recent weeks by fears that the president's hardball policies could deal a painful blow to the global economy.

April 2 is now the focus of attention, with Trump labelling it "Liberation Day" as he prepares to unveil a raft of "reciprocal" measures -- imposing tariffs on other countries equal to those in place against the United States.

A White House official told AFP on Monday that the sector-specific levies he had previously threatened "may or may not happen" as planned on April 2, adding that the situation was currently fluid.

All three major indices on Wall Street closed higher, with the tech-rich Nasdaq ending the day up 2.3 percent.

The trade news was "definitely the main cause" of the rise in Wall Street stocks, Steve Sosnick from Interactive Brokers told AFP.

"Investors clearly hate the idea of tariffs," he said. "So any news that implies that the burden of tariffs will be will be lighter than expected will be taken as a positive by the market."

- European rally loses steam -

European markets open buoyantly on Monday, but pared gains during the day, with London, Paris and Frankfurt all losing ground, albeit modestly.

Markets also digested purchasing managers' index (PMI) data that showed business activity in the eurozone increased for the third consecutive month in March.

The closely watched survey also showed that UK business activity hit a six-month high, a glimmer of good news for Britain's otherwise-struggling economy.

Asian markets fluctuated through the day, with Tokyo falling while Hong Kong and Shanghai rose.

Chinese electric carmaker BYD's shares rose by three percent, regaining some lost ground on the news it made more than $100 billion in 2024.

Its price had dropped more than eight percent on Friday following a report that the European Commission was conducting a foreign subsidy investigation into its plant in Hungary.

Jakarta dived more than four percent at one point, extending a recent sell-off.

Gold slid back slightly to around $3,010 an ounce (28.3 grams), having hit a series of records last week to a peak of more than $3,057 owing to a surge in demand for safe havens.

Holders of the asset could see prices continue to fall, according to Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at StoneX financial services.

"Moving forward, the gold forecast may not be as strong as the first months of the year," he said. "We think that the pace of the buying could at least slow, if not reverse."

- Key figures around 2030 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 1.4 percent at 42,583.32 points (close)

New York - S&P: UP 1.8 percent 5,767.57 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: UP 2.3 percent at 18,188.59 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 8,638.01 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.3 percent at 8,022.33 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 22,852.66 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 37,608.49 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.9 percent at 23,905.56 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,370.03 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0805 from $1.0815 on Friday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2924 from $1.2918

Dollar/yen: UP at 150.58 yen from 149.36 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.58 pence from 83.72 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.2 percent at $69.11 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.3 percent at $73.00 per barrel

Z.AbuSaud--SF-PST