Stocks edge higher, Brazilian real bounces as investors weigh Trump’s latest tariff moves

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By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Stock indexes rose on Thursday, with investors weighing the latest trade announcements from U.S. President Donald Trump, while the Brazilian real recovered some losses following Trump’s announcement of a 50% tariff on goods from Brazil.

Helping Wall Street stocks, Delta Air Lines jumped 12% after it forecast third-quarter and full-year profits above analysts’ estimates. Other travel stocks also rose, including United Airlines, which was up 15.3%.

Trump also late Wednesday confirmed a 50% tariff would be imposed on copper, and said it would start August 1. U.S. copper prices were last higher on the day.

The Brazilian real volatility gauges surged to their highest levels since late April late on Wednesday, and the real had fallen as much as 2.3%. On Thursday, the dollar was last down 0.6% against the real, while Brazilian stocks were down about 0.5%.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vowed retaliation against unilateral tariff hikes, and called a meeting with ministers on Thursday.

Some traders say U.S. consumers could see sharp price increases on food staples like coffee and orange juice if the administration sticks to its Brazil import plan.

But reactions in the broader market to Trump’s latest moves have been less severe than in April, possibly reflecting expectations that ongoing negotiations between Washington and its trade partners could yield agreements before the deadline.

Investors are also gearing up for second-quarter earnings, looking for signs of an impact from Trump’s trade war launched on April 2.

Bruce Zaro, managing director at Granite Wealth Management in Plymouth, Massachusetts, said the market appears to be in a holding pattern ahead of the reports from S&P 500 companies.

JPMorgan Chase is due to release results Tuesday, essentially kicking off the reporting period.

“There’s been great skepticism with all of the analysts that follow the S&P 500, how they’ve been reducing their estimates at large, based on the tariffs and uncertainty around that,” he said.

“But we think, when all is said and done, those growth companies, and specifically tech companies, are going to come through with fabulous earnings. So I think the market is in a waiting period.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 259.72 points, or 0.59%, to 44,718.67, the S&P 500 rose 21.75 points, or 0.35%, to 6,285.02 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 34.47 points, or 0.17%, to 20,645.81.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 2.70 points, or 0.29%, to 927.00. The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended up 0.54%.

Bitcoin rallied to another all-time high. The world’s largest cryptocurrency rose to a fresh record high of $113,734.64. It is now up about 21% this year.

Investors digested upbeat quarterly results from TSMC, which showed strong demand for the world’s largest contract chipmaker’s products, fuelled by surging interest in artificial intelligence applications.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,

rose 0.28% to 97.65.

Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields edged higher on after U.S. data showed that jobless claims unexpectedly fell last week and as investors focused on how tariffs will impact inflation ahead of key consumer price data due next week.

U.S. crude fell $1.81 to settle at $66.57 a barrel and Brent settled at $68.64 per barrel, down $1.55.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Rae Wee, Johann M Cherian and Marc Jones; Editing by Jamie Freed, Bernadette Baum, Tomasz Janowski, Jane Merriman and Cynthia Osterman)