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By Noel Randewich
(Reuters) -The S&P 500 rose sharply to end at its highest in over two weeks on Monday, lifted by Nvidia and Tesla following signs that the Trump administration might take a more measured approach on tariffs against U.S. trading partners.
U.S. President Donald Trump said automobile tariffs are coming soon, and said he may give "a lot of countries" breaks on tariffs, but provided no details.
Investors scooped up battered technology shares, with Nvidia rallying over 3% and Advanced Micro Devices jumping 7%, sending the PHLX chip index 3% higher.
Tesla surged almost 12% in its biggest one-day gain since early November, recovering some of its recent steep decline, helped by optimism about scaled-back U.S. tariffs.
Financial markets have been volatile in recent weeks due to fears of inflation and an economic downturn after Trump announced a series of tariffs last month on major U.S. trading partners, including China, Mexico and Canada.
The S&P 500 has recovered about 4% from its recent low on March 13, and it remains down around 6% from its February 19 record high close.
"Investors are experiencing a slight sigh of relief, but at the same time they are cynical about how long this may last," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. "The causes of this manufactured correction have not evaporated. They are tariffs and what the impact of tariffs could be on economic growth, inflation and corporate profits."
Several companies have cited tariff uncertainty as they lowered their forecasts for upcoming quarters. Data compiled by LSEG as of Friday showed earnings of companies in the S&P 500 are expected to grow by 10.5% in 2025, down by 3.5 percentage points since the beginning of the year.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.76% to end the session at 5,767.57 points. The Nasdaq gained 2.27% to 18,188.59 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.42% to 42,583.32 points.
The domestically focused Russell 2000 index rose 2.55% to a two-week high, while the CBOE Volatility Index, known as Wall Street's fear gauge, dropped 1.8 points to a one-month low.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively light, with 13.6 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 16.5 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.
Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by consumer discretionary, up 4.07%, lifted by Tesla, followed by a 2.1% gain in communication services.
A survey showed U.S. business activity picked up in March, while growing fears over import tariffs and deep government spending cuts continued to weigh on sentiment. Investors are awaiting data this week, including the Personal Consumption Expenditure price index - the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge - on Friday.
Dun & Bradstreet climbed 3% after the data and analytics provider agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Clearlake Capital in a $7.7 billion deal.
Lockheed Martin fell over 1% after BofA Global Research downgraded the weapons maker to "neutral" from "buy." Crypto stocks rallied with a 4% rise in bitcoin prices, with MicroStrategy surging 10% and Coinbase adding 7%.
Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 5.4-to-one ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 5 new highs and 1 new low; the Nasdaq recorded 46 new highs and 97 new lows.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru, Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Maju Samuel, Aurora Ellis and Leslie Adler)
