TRADING DAY-Stocks rally for third day as earnings optimism trumps tariffs confusion

NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters) - TRADING DAY

Making sense of the forces driving global markets.

By Alden Bentley, Americas Finance and Markets Breaking News

Editor.

Jamie is away so I'll provide a round-up of today's main market moves below. I'd love to hear from you, so please reach out to me with comments at alden.bentley@thomsonreuters.com.

If you have more time to read today, here are a few articles I recommend to help you make sense of what happened in the markets.

1. China pushes for tariff cancellation to end US trade war

2. US durable goods orders soar on aircraft bookings in March

3. US labor market holds steady despite darkening clouds from tariffs

4. Fed officials argue for patience while gauging tariff impact

5. Bank of England's Bailey says he is focused on the growth hit from tariffs

6. China has scope to ramp up stimulus, fix property woes, IMF says

7. Trump trade war spreads more gloom across businesses across the world

Today's Key Market Moves

1. The S&P 500 closes up 2.02%, the Nasdaq Composite ends 2.74% higher and Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 1.23%.

2. The dollar falls 0.6% against the yen JPY=, trading at 142.52. The euro EUR= rises 0.7%.

3. Gold closes up 1.85%.

4. The 10-year Treasury note yield US10YT=RR falls 7.6 basis points to 4.311%.

5. Brent crude oil LCOc1 falls 0.4% to $66.38 a barrel.

6. The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX index rises 0.36%, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 rises 0.40%.

7. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closes down 0.33%, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 rises 0.49%.

Stocks rally for third day, earnings optimism trumps tariffs confusion

While Thursday marked Wall Street's third rally in a row, given three topsy-turvy weeks of tariff headlines, and the ugly selloff four sessions ago, it is premature to declare "confidence is back!"

The S&P 500 is up six-plus percent since Tuesday, but is still down about 10% from its record close on February 19 and down more than 3% since U.S. President Donald Trump's ill-received April 2 "Liberation Day" tariff news conference.

But some okay earnings reports have stabilized the mood of investors, if not of business which has yet to feel the full brunt of whatever tariff regime is left on the books.

ServiceNow's shares jumped 14.8% on profit that was better than expected due to resilient demand for AI-powered software. The release of Alphabet earnings after the market close could provide more information on how AI investments are paying off.

Beijing said the U.S. should remove all "unilateral tariff measures" against China "if it truly wanted" to solve the trade issue. It also said there have been no economic and trade negotiations between the two countries, which Trump refuted. So the confusion continues.

The White House on Wednesday signaled it was open to reducing sweeping tariffs on China, floating a reduction in the rate to 50% to 60% from the 145% Trump decreed in the initial walk back of aggressive levies on most other trading partners.

About 73.9% of the 157 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported first-quarter earnings to date have exceeded analyst expectations even amid tariff uncertainty, according to LSEG data. Even so, businesses across multiple industries are saying they're increasing prices and uncertain about the outlook because of Trump's trade policies.

The dollar pulled back following an interlude of trade optimism on Wednesday, but not all the way to its lows during the worst of the backlash against U.S. assets.

Treasuries held up amid hopes that any tariff war won't be as bad as it could have been, so yields fell but remained in range established during the bond and dollar rout.

Market concerns around a meaningful retreat of foreign buyers were partly assuaged this week, as Treasury auction allocation data on Wednesday showed solid foreign demand for a 10-year auction earlier this month, when the bond market was selling off amid tariff-induced volatility.

What could move markets tomorrow?

• University of Michigan final US sentiment survey for April

• US earnings: AbbVie, Phillips 66, Schlumberger

Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

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