Wall Street staged one of its most powerful rallies in history on Wednesday, as a dramatic shift in U.S. trade policy ignited an aggressive risk-on surge across every corner of the market.
At the heart of the rally was President Donald Trump‘s unexpected announcement of a 90-day tariff pause for countries that have not retaliated against the U.S., coupled with a renewed hardline stance on China.
The twin messaging—conciliatory toward allies, confrontational toward Beijing—was seen by investors as a calculated move to reset trade negotiations and de-escalate uncertainty.
Trump decided to impose universal 10% tariffs on countries that have not retaliated against U.S. duties, announcing a three-month window for fine-tuning negotiations. He also opted to keep duties on China as high as 125%.
The reaction was immediate and overwhelming.
The Nasdaq 100 – as tracked by the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) – soared 11% by 2:40 p.m. ET, on track for its strongest one-day gain since October 2008, during the height of the global financial crisis.
The S&P 500 jumped 8.7%, its best session since March 2020, …