By Kelly Cloonan
Bank stocks climbed after President Trump placed a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for most trading partners.
Morgan Stanley led the climb, up 12% to $112.53. JPMorgan Chase rose 8% to $234.60. Wells Fargo and Bank of America similarly rose, up 8% and 7%, respectively.
While banks aren't directly impacted by import taxes like retailers are, the industry's stocks suffered losses in the last several days as Trump's reciprocal tariff plans raised worries of slower economic growth or a recession.
Such a scenario would likely lead to a pullback in borrowing and dealmaking, and could make it harder for consumers and companies to pay back debts, all which were expected to hurt banks' results.
The declines marked a stark whiplash in sentiment from investors' near-euphoric outlook for bank stocks after Trump's election win sparked hopes of looser regulation and corporate tax cuts, and in turn, a boost to dealmaking and earnings.
The pause on tariffs, announced Wednesday, applies to all trading partners except China, Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Trump also said reciprocal tariffs will be lowered to 10% across the board, except for China, which now faces a 125% tariff.
Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 09, 2025 15:03 ET (19:03 GMT)
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