U.S. stocks welcome progress in China-U.S. talks! The Nasdaq rises over 4%, returning to a bull market, Chinese concept stocks perform even better, Alibaba rises nearly 6%, U.S. Treasury bonds and gold plunge

High-level China-U.S. economic and trade talks reached a consensus, significantly reducing bilateral tariff levels. The three major U.S. stock indices recorded their largest daily gains in a month. Global trade tensions eased, expectations of economic recession softened, and investors reduced bets on interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, leading to a plunge in U.S. Treasuries and gold. Various commodities, led by crude oil, rose.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the China-U.S. economic and trade talks relieve pressure and boost confidence in the global economy, with U.S. stocks soaring, chip stocks leading the technology sector, and Chinese concept stocks outperforming the market.

• Pre-market U.S. stocks, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce released the Joint Statement of the China-U.S. Geneva Economic and Trade Talks, stating that the U.S. will amend the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods (including those from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macao Special Administrative Region) as specified in Executive Order No. 14257 dated April 2, 2025. Among them, a 24% tariff will be suspended for the initial 90 days, while retaining the imposition of the remaining 10% tariff on these goods as per the provisions of the executive order.

• After the U.S. stock market opened, the Nasdaq, which has a high proportion of technology stocks, led the gains among the three major indices, rising over 4% at one point. Chinese concept stocks surged, with the Chinese concept index up over 5.6%, XPeng rising over 8% at one point, and Alibaba initially rising about 7%. Expectations of a U.S. economic recession significantly slowed, and Goldman Sachs significantly delayed its expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. The U.S. 2-year yield rose over 10 basis points, climbing back above 4.00%. During the session, the U.S. dollar index rose over 1%, gold futures plunged over 4%, and U.S. oil rose over 4%.

• In early U.S. trading, Trump signed an order aimed at lowering drug prices in the U.S. market. Healthcare-related stocks experienced chaos, as the uncertainty surrounding drug pricing policies intensified volatility. The weight-loss drug company Hims saw its gains narrow to nearly 6%, while Eli Lilly initially fell nearly 1.7% before turning to a short-term rise. Apple rose nearly 6% at one point, with reports suggesting that Apple is considering raising iPhone prices, but not attributing it to tariffs. Crude oil's gains narrowed, falling over 2% from its intraday high.

On Monday, all three major U.S. stock indices recorded their largest single-day percentage gains since April 9. Stocks of major global technology companies surged across the board, with chip stocks leading the technology sector. Tesla's stock price rose nearly 7%, pushing its market value back above $1 trillion. Most AI concept stocks rose, with AMD rising over 9% at one point. All sectors rose except for utilities, and the semiconductor ETF closed up nearly 6.3%.

U.S. Stock Market Indices:

• The S&P 500 Index closed up 184.28 points, an increase of 3.26%, at 5844.19 points. The S&P's year-to-date decline has narrowed to just 0.6%.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1160.72 points, an increase of 2.81%, at 42410.10 points.

• The Nasdaq closed up 779.43 points, an increase of 4.35%, at 18708.34 points. The Nasdaq 100 Index closed up 806.70 points, an increase of 4.02%, at 20868.15 points.

• The Russell 2000 Index closed up 3.42%, at 2092.20 points.

• The VIX (Volatility Index) closed down 15.98%, at 18.40.

U.S. Sector ETFs:

• The Semiconductor ETF closed up 6.27%, and the Consumer Discretionary ETF rose 4.97%.

• The Biotechnology Index ETF, Technology Sector ETF, Regional Bank ETF, Global Tech Stocks Index ETF, Banking Sector ETF, and Internet Stocks Index ETF all rose by at least 4%.

"Tech Seven Sisters":

• The Magnificent 7 Index of U.S. tech giants rose 5.35%, up 156.94 points.

• Amazon closed up 8.12%, Meta Platforms rose 7.92%, Apple rose 6.31%, NVIDIA rose 5.44%, Google A rose 3.73%, and Microsoft rose 2.38%.

Chip Stocks:

• The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closed up 7.04%, at 4780.93 points.

• TSMC ADR closed up 5.93%, and AMD rose 5.13%.

• ON Semiconductor and Microchip Technology surged 9% and 10%, respectively.

AI Concept Stocks:

• Applovin closed up 5.89%, Tempus AI rose 2.15%, and Palantir rose 0.99%.

Chinese Concept Stocks:

• The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed up 5.40%, at 7449.06 points, approaching the closing level of 7550.00 points on April 3.

• Popular Chinese concept stocks such as Pony.ai initially rose 11.8%, Fangdd and XPeng rose over 8%, Bilibili rose over 7%, JD.com, Li Auto, and Pinduoduo rose over 6%, Alibaba, Nio, and Baidu rose over 5%, Tencent, New Oriental, and Yum China rose over 4%.

Other Individual Stocks:

• Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares, owned by Warren Buffett, rose 0.11%.

• Coinbase will be included in the S&P 500 Index, with its stock price rising over 8% in after-hours trading

• The stock price of the world's largest gold producer, Newmont Corporation (NEM), plummeted nearly 6% due to falling gold prices.

The European STOXX 600 index closed up 1.2%, with the materials sector rising about 5%, and the technology and tourism sectors up over 3%. The German stock index rose about 0.3%, continuing to set a record closing high, while the Italian banking index rose over 2.2%, and the Swedish stock index rose over 3.1%.

Pan-European Stock Market:

• The European STOXX 600 index closed up 1.21% at 544.49 points.

• The Eurozone STOXX 50 index closed up 1.56% at 5392.36 points.

National Stock Indices:

• The German DAX 30 index closed up 0.29% at 23566.54 points, marking a record closing high for the second consecutive trading day.

• The French CAC 40 index closed up 1.37% at 7850.10 points.

• The UK FTSE 100 index closed up 0.59% at 8604.98 points.

Sectors and Stocks:

• In terms of sectors, the STOXX 600 basic resources index rose 4.98%, the technology index rose 3.44%, and the travel and leisure index rose 3.15%.

• Among all components of the European STOXX 600 index, A.P. Moller-Maersk Class B shares rose 11.22%, Standard Chartered Group rose 9.6%, and Carnival rose 9.38%.

• Among Eurozone blue chips, Infineon rose 8.19%, LVMH rose 7.01%, Stellantis, ASML Holding, Kering, and Prosus rose between 6.85% and 5.18%, entering the top six performers.

Traders expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates only twice this year. U.S. Treasuries were sold off, particularly short-term government bonds. The 2-year yield rose over 10 basis points, with the yield rebounding to 4.00%. Traders also lowered their expectations for the European Central Bank's interest rate cuts this year, with swap trades indicating that the ECB will cut rates by 46 basis points by the end of the year, 14 basis points lower than last Friday. The 2-year German bond yield rose about 13 basis points.

U.S. Treasuries:

• At the New York close, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury rose by 8.45 basis points to 4.4630%, remaining in an upward trend throughout the day, trading in a range of 4.3981%-3.4669%.

• The 2-year U.S. Treasury yield rose by 10.47 basis points to 3.9956%, with an intraday trading range of 3.9077%-4.0166%.

European Bonds:

• At the end of the European market, the yield on Germany's 10-year government bonds rose by 8.6 basis points to 2.648%; the yield on 2-year German bonds rose by 12.8 basis points to 1.913%, trading within a range of 1.821%-1.923% during the day.

• At the end of the European market, the yield on the UK's 10-year government bonds rose by 7.4 basis points to 4.642%; the yield on 2-year UK bonds rose by 8.9 basis points to 3.998%.

• At the end of the European market, the yields on the 10-year sovereign bonds of France, Italy, Spain, and Greece rose by about 6 basis points.

Expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut have significantly decreased, and the US dollar index rose by about 1.5% on Monday. Bitcoin suffered a heavy blow, falling back below $102,000 after soaring to nearly $106,000 overnight.

US Dollar:

• At the end of the New York market, the ICE US Dollar Index rose by 1.47% to 101.816 points, remaining in an upward trend throughout the day.

• The Bloomberg Dollar Index rose by 0.99% to 1239.44 points, trading within a range of 1227.85-1241.71 points during the day.

Non-US Currencies:

• At the end of the New York market, the euro fell by 1.44% against the US dollar, the British pound fell by 0.96% against the US dollar, and the US dollar rose by 1.68% against the Swiss franc.

• Among commodity currencies, the Australian dollar fell by 0.65% against the US dollar, the New Zealand dollar fell by 0.94% against the US dollar, and the US dollar rose by 0.29% against the Canadian dollar.

Japanese Yen:

• At the end of the New York market, the US dollar rose by 2.14% against the Japanese yen, reporting 148.47 yen, trading within a range of 145.70-148.65 yen during the day.

• The euro rose by 0.67% against the Japanese yen, and the British pound rose by 1.15% against the Japanese yen.

Offshore Renminbi:

• At the end of the New York market, the offshore renminbi was quoted at 7.2006 against the US dollar, down 397 points from last Friday's New York close, trading overall within a range of 7.2406-7.1922 yuan during the day.

Cryptocurrency:

• At the end of the New York market, the CME Bitcoin futures BTC main contract fell by 1.66% compared to last Friday's New York close, reporting $102,000.

• The CME Ether futures DCR main contract rose by 5.04%, reporting $2460.50.

Analysts indicate that easing global trade tensions will boost oil demand. US crude oil futures closed up over 1.5%, while New York natural gas fell over 3.9%.

Crude Oil:

• WTI June crude oil futures rose by $0.93, an increase of over 1.52%, closing at $61.95 per barrel.

• Brent July crude oil futures rose by $1.05, an increase of over 1.64%, closing at $64.96 per barrel.

Natural Gas:

• NYMEX June natural gas futures fell by over 3.92%, closing at $3.6460 per million British thermal units.

Risk aversion eased, while the US dollar index surged, causing gold prices to drop by about 2.7%, briefly approaching $3200, and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index fell by over 6.9%.

Gold:

• In New York's late trading, spot gold fell by 2.69%, closing at $3235.37 per ounce, remaining in a downward trend throughout the day.

• COMEX gold futures fell by 2.76%, closing at $3240.10 per ounce.

Silver:

• In New York's late trading, spot silver fell by 0.43%, closing at $32.5880 per ounce.

• COMEX silver futures fell by 0.42%, closing at $32.775 per ounce.

Other Metals:

• In New York's late trading, COMEX copper futures fell by 0.47%, closing at $4.6320 per pound.

• LME copper futures rose by $75, closing at $9520 per ton.

• LME aluminum futures rose by $62, closing at $2480 per ton. LME tin futures rose by $689, closing at $32574 per ton. LME nickel futures fell by $169, closing at $15635 per ton