Financial Markets                      03/24 15:34

   

   Stocks closed broadly higher as Wall Street navigates through the 
uncertainty of a trade war. The S&P 500 jumped 1.8% Monday. It is coming off 
its first winning week after a four-week losing streak. More than 80% of stocks 
within the S&P 500 notched gains and nearly every sector within the index rose. 
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.4% and the Nasdaq composite rose 2.3%. 
Stocks have been riding waves of hope and worry as tariffs are announced, then 
either implemented or pulled. Wall Street remains focused on how tariffs could 
eventually impact inflation, consumer spending and economic growth.

   THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.

   Stocks are broadly higher in afternoon trading Monday as Wall Street tries 
to navigate through the uncertainty of a trade war.

   The S&P 500 jumped 1.6%. The benchmark index is coming off its first winning 
week after a four-week losing streak.

   The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 521 points, or 1.2%, as of 2:55 p.m. 
Eastern. The Nasdaq composite surged 2.2%.

   Wall Street remains focused on how tariffs could eventually impact 
inflation, consumer spending and economic growth. Stocks have been riding waves 
of hope and worry as tariffs are announced, then either implemented or pulled. 
A new round of tariffs scheduled to be implemented on April 2 could also be 
softened or postponed rather than take effect.

   "The exact breadth and scale of the tariffs remain to be seen, and a cycle 
of tit-for-tat escalation is also possible in the weeks following the 
announcement, potentially triggering further bouts of market volatility," said 
Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, chief investment officer of global equities at UBS 
Global Wealth Management.

   Gains on Monday were broad, with more than 80% of stocks within the S&P 500 
notching gains. Every sector within the index rose.

   Technology stocks helped lead the way. The sector has been the driving force 
behind much of the broader markets movement, whether up or down. The stocks are 
among the most valuable on Wall Street and tend to have an outsized impact on 
the broader market's direction.

   Nvidia rose 3.6% and Apple added 0.9%.

   Tesla climbed 10.3% for the biggest gain among S&P 500 stocks. The electric 
vehicle maker is still down about 32% for the year. It has been struggling on 
worries that customers are turned off by CEO Elon Musk's leading efforts to 
slash spending by the U.S. government.

   Genetics testing company 23andme lost more than half its value after it 
announced over the weekend that it had initiated voluntary bankruptcy 
proceedings.

   AZEK Co. jumped 15.2% after the building materials company announced it was 
being bought by Australia's James Hardie Industries in a cash-and-stock deal 
valued around $8.75 billion.

   It's the second large deal in the sector in less than a week, with QXO Inc. 
announcing on Thursday that it was buying Beacon Roofing Supply Inc. in a deal 
worth about $11 billion, including debt.

   In the bond market, Treasury yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury 
rose to 4.33% from 4.25% late Friday.

   Markets in Europe mostly closed lower, while indexes in Asia were mixed.

   Chinese Premier Li Qiang struck a conciliatory tone during a meeting with 
business leaders and U.S. Senator Steve Daines, a strong supporter of President 
Donald Trump, who is the first member of Congress to visit Beijing since Trump 
took office in January.

   Wall Street has several economic updates this week. Business group The 
Conference Board releases its consumer confidence survey for March on Tuesday. 
Wall Street expects the survey to show a slight dip in consumer confidence.

   On Friday, the U.S. government releases the personal consumption 
expenditures price index for February. It is a measure of inflation closely 
watched by the Federal Reserve.

   Recent economic reports have shown that the underlying economy remains 
strong, but that consumers are becoming more worried and cautious. They have 
also shown that inflation remains stubborn.

   Stubborn inflation has prompted more caution from the Fed, which started 
cutting its benchmark interest rate at the end of 2024. Those cuts came after 
the central bank raised interest rates in order to cool inflation from a 
two-decade high.

   Several measures of inflation show that interest rates remain just above the 
Fed's goal of 2%. The U.S. trade war with its key trading partners has 
threatened to reignite inflation and the Fed is holding off on further cutting 
interest rates to see how inflation and the broader economy reacts.

   Lower interest rates can ease borrowing costs and help give the economy a 
boost, but they can also push inflation higher.

   ___

   Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

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