Wall Street Rallies on U.S.-Vietnam Trade Deal; Nasdaq and S&P Surge, Steel Stocks Soar
The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 190.24 points or 0.9% to 20,393.13 and the S&P 500 climbed 29.41 points or 0.5% to 6,227.42, although the narrower Dow edged down 10.52 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 44,484.4.
Wall Street saw a surge in strength following President Donald Trump's announcement of a new trade deal with Vietnam. According to his Truth Social post, Vietnam agreed to impose a 20% tariff on exports to the U.S. and a 40% tariff on trans-shipped goods. In exchange, Vietnam will grant the U.S. complete market access with zero tariffs on American products. Trump emphasized this as a historic move, highlighting it as a first for Vietnam.
Payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector employment in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased in the month of June. ADP said private sector employment fell by 33,000 jobs in June after rising by a downwardly revised 29,000 jobs in May. On Thursday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on employment, which includes both public and private sector jobs.
Steel stocks moved sharply higher, driving the NYSE Arca Steel Index up by 4.3% to a seven-month closing high. Computer hardware stocks was considerably strong, as reflected by the 2.5% surge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Energy, semiconductor and airline stocks too were significantly strong where utilities and healthcare stocks bucked the uptrend.
Asia-Pacific stocks turned in a mixed performance. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.6%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed by 0.6%. European stocks moved mostly higher. The French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.0% and the German DAX Index rose by 0.5%, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and edged down by 0.1%.
In the bond market, treasuries saw further downside following the news of the trade deal with Vietnam. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 4.2 bps to 4.29%.
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But townsfolks cannot wait for Pope Leo to take up residence and enjoy the town's gorgeous lake views and quiet starry nights. It's the perfect place for a pope to rest, read, write and think in private, they say. 'Remember, many encyclicals were written here,' noted the Rev Tadeusz Rozmus, the town's parish priest.
