US stocks extended their gains on Wednesday morning after President Trump backtracked on threats to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell and signaled trade deals with lower tariff rates are in the works.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 757 points, or 1.9%, after surging 1,016.57 points the day before, breaking a four-day losing streak.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose 2.5% and 3.5%, respectively, by approximately 9:30 a.m. ET.
On Tuesday evening, Trump said he had “no intention” of firing Powell, whose term as the nation’s top central banker expires May 2026.
Just the day before, the president called Powell “a major loser” for not slashing interest rates, mocking the policymaker with the nickname “Mr. Too Late” – which sent the Dow sliding for a 970-point loss on Monday.
Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough.”
The president also gave investors hope for lower import taxes on China, which is currently facing a steep 145% rate – threatening to send prices soaring on goods like electronics, toys and clothing.
The 145% rate on China is “very high, and it won’t be that high…No, it won’t be anywhere near that high. It’ll come down substantially,” Trump said.
The “Magnificent 7” tech stocks – which includes Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Tesla – rose premarket on Wednesday. Shares in these tech firms have been hit especially hard, since many of their supply chains are reliant on China.
Shares in Nvidia jumped 5.8% and Apple rose 3.4% premarket, while Tesla soared 7.8% after CEO Elon Musk during the company’s earnings call said his time running DOGE will drop “significantly” next month.
Investors have raised concerns that Musk’s time has been stretched too thin, with not enough focus on Tesla, and that his links to the cost-cutting government task force are resulting in significant brand damage, as protestors demonstrate outside Tesla dealerships and set vehicles ablaze.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also made reassuring comments, claiming there are “18 proposals on paper” for trade deals and that US-China trade tensions will likely de-escalate.
