Stocks fluctuate as 2025 losses erased; tech stocks rebound

by Margaryta Kirakosian

Stocks fluctuated as traders awaited fresh catalysts for the rally that erased the S&P 500’s losses in 2025 amid a US-China trade truce and a resurgence in demand for technology shares.  

Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 traded little changed after paring earlier gains, while Europe’s Stoxx 600 edged lower. Burberry Group Plc rose as much as 10% after beating sales estimates and announcing staff cuts. US Treasuries and the dollar were steady. 

President Donald Trump has put US technology initiatives at the center of his visit to the Middle East this week. Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. jumped on Tuesday after announcing they would supply semiconductors to a Saudi Arabian artificial-intelligence firm for a $10 billion data-center project. 

The deals added fuel to a rebound in stocks. The US-China trade war has eased, earnings are coming in better than expected and US inflation continued to slow in April, even after sweeping “Liberation day” tariffs kicked in that month. 

“As we get incremental positive news, we should see investors trying to chase the rally which pushes risk assets higher,” said Mohit Kumar, chief economist and strategist at Jefferies International. The US “could outperform Europe in the short term as positioning is still underweight US over Europe,” he said.

In Asia, an index of tech shares advanced as much as 2.3% as investors awaited reports from Tencent Holdings Ltd. on Wednesday, and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. the following day.

“A good run of tech earnings from China would certainly offer a catalyst to spur further gains,” said Frederic Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong. “As macro risks recede, investors will again pay more attention to earnings and prospects for renewed strength in tech.” 

The Trump administration plans to overhaul regulations on the export of semiconductors used in AI, tossing out a Biden-era approach that had drawn objections from America’s allies. It’s also weighing a deal that would allow the United Arab Emirates to import more than a million advanced Nvidia chips, people familiar with the matter said.

The stock market is “gonna go a lot higher,” Trump said, citing an “explosion of investment and jobs” as he said Saudi Arabia would commit to investing $1 trillion in the US. 

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.1% as of 9:02 a.m. London time
• S&P 500 futures were little changed
• Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed
• Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.1%
• The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 1.4%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
• The euro rose 0.3% to $1.1216
• The Japanese yen rose 0.4% to 146.90 per dollar
• The offshore yuan fell 0.1% to 7.2064 per dollar
• The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.3329

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin fell 0.8% to $103,786.51
• Ether fell 1.9% to $2,639.02

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.47%
• Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.68%
• Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.67%

Commodities

• Brent crude fell 0.3% to $66.45 a barrel
• Spot gold fell 0.4% to $3,238.71 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

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