- The S&P 500 edged upwards on Friday despite a drop in May in consumer sentiment and aggressive comments from President Donald Trump that his administration will impose new tariffs on some trading partners.
Stock prices closed near their February highs on Friday—even though consumer sentiment neared all-time lows. The S&P 500 finished around 6,000, a number not seen since shortly after President Donald Trump took office, boosted by a daily gain of 0.7% and overall weekly gains of 2.6%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq posted a daily gain of 0.5%, and the Dow Jones jumped 0.78%.
The Friday gains come even as consumer sentiment dipped from 52.2 in April to 50.8 in May, according to new data from the University of Michigan. It’s the second lowest score in the survey’s more than-five-decade-long history, only above a low of 50 in June 2022. The monthly results measure how U.S. consumers view the economy as well as their own financial situations.
Meanwhile, markets were unfazed by Trump’s most recent comments on tariffs during his tour of the Middle East. He said Friday that he will unilaterally impose tax rates on goods from scores of countries because it was “not possible to meet the number of people that want to see us.”
He added that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will begin sending out letters to the U.S.’s trading partners over the next two or three weeks, which will tell “people what they’ll be paying to do business in the United States.”
Friday’s gains cap off a weeklong rebound in the markets, spurred by an announcement on Monday of the U.S. and China’s agreement to temporarily reduce reciprocal tariffs.
In early April, Trump unveiled an aggressive suite of taxes on a score of countries’ exports but reserved the most severe for the People’s Republic. His administration instituted what became a 145% tax on Chinese exports to the States. China soon retaliated with a 125% tariff on American goods.
Amid the trade war, stocks dove and the bonds markets trembled as investors worried that Trump’s tariffs would inflict serious damage onto the world economy.
In response, the President delayed the rollout of his most aggressive tariffs for many of the U.S.’s trading partners—excluding China. But on Monday, markets surged after Bessent said that the U.S. and China agreed to a 90-day pause that resulted in American tariffs on Chinese exports dropping to 30%, and taxes on U.S. exports to China falling to 10%. The two sides engaged in negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, over the weekend.
