Dow Jones Industrial Average little changed as investors await news on tariffs
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) spun in a worried circle on Monday, opening the gates on a new trading week and holding steady near the 43,800 level. The major equity index continues to churn out a middling pattern near key moving averages as investors await the latest iteration of United States (US) President Donald Trump’s tariff threats. Paradoxically, Trump’s tariffs are claimed to be both a masterful negotiating tactic by the Republican platform runner who doesn’t actually intend to impose import taxes on his own citizens, but also a critically necessary form of revenue generation for the US government that will be getting imposed no matter what. Whichever form the tariffs take tend to depend on who in the Trump administration is talking.
According to President Trump and his staffers, further details on an impending 25% tariff package on Canada and Mexico, as well as yet another 10% levy on Chinese imports, are expected at some point on Tuesday.
PMI figures miss the mark ahead of another NFP Friday
Another Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) week is on the books, with Friday’s key jobs data looming ahead. Things are off to a soft start after US ISM Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) survey results came in softer than expected. According to a sampling of key business operators, business activity expectations for March shrank slightly, with the ISM Manufacturing PMI falling to 50.3. The economic indicator is still holding above the key 50.0 level that typically separates contraction versus expansion expectations, but the one-month fall from February’s 50.9 accelerated through median market forecasts of a slight trim to 50.5.
US ISM Manufacturing Prices Paid accelerated however, bringing renewed inflation fears back into the picture. The indicator rose to nearly a two-year high as tariff fears continue to squeeze higher price pressures into the market. ISM Prices Paid expectations rose to 62.4 in March, rising from the previous print of 50.9 and blowing through the forecast of 56.2.
Dow Jones news
Most of the Dow Jones is trading into the green on Monday, despite some overall tepid tones from equity markets to kick off the new trading week. Reports are surfacing that Nvidia (NVDA) products have been making their way to China despite US restrictions on Chinese access to US-produced microchips. Singapore is officially probing some of Nvidia’s key customers, including Dell (DELL) and Super Micro Computer (SMCI), who may have been putting Nvidia’s latest chipset, Blackwell, into servers and then shipping them to China in order to subvert export restrictions. Nvidia is down around 5.6%, tumbling below $118 per share.
Source: Fxstreet
