Stocks Rise as Trump Says He’ll Unveil Trade Deal: Markets Wrap

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(Bloomberg) — US stock futures rallied and the dollar strengthened as President Donald Trump hinted a “major” trade deal was imminent, boosting optimism that the US was making headway in tariff negotiations. 

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Europe’s Stoxx 600 index gained 0.5%, while contracts for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 climbed about 1% after Trump teased the announcement in a Truth Social post. While he didn’t identify the country involved, people familiar with the matter said an agreement with the United Kingdom was due to be announced. The report sent Britain’s domestically focused FTSE 250 index to a two-month high, while the pound outperformed other major currency peers against the dollar. 

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Bloomberg’s dollar index edged higher for a second day, and Bitcoin rose toward the $100,000 mark for the first time since February. 

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Trump’s remarks on social media followed news that US and Chinese officials will meet this weekend to discuss trade. The headlines raise expectations that crippling levies mooted by Trump will be negotiated down, averting lasting damage to economic growth and corporate profits. 

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“The fear has been of higher prices, company profit margins being squeezed, and the economy going nto recession as a result of higher tariffs,”  said Kenneth Broux, a strategist at Societe Generale. “If you start unwinding all of that, it’s got to be bullish for risk assets, and you could argue that again brings flows back into dollar assets.”

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The dollar firmed 0.2% against a basket of peers, benefiting also from the Federal Reserve’s signal that it’s in no hurry to ease monetary policy. It held interest rates steady as expected on Wednesday, and warned that higher tariffs could raise inflation and unemployment.

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Rate-sensitive two-year Treasury yields rose four basis points as traders trimmed the odds of a July cut to around 80%. They still expect three interest-rate reductions in the remainder of 2025, but fully price the first move only for September. 

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In the UK, the Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point Thursday and may signal that another move is likely in June. That would put the central bank on course for its first back-to-back reductions since 2009 as the trade war darkens the outlook for growth.

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Among individual stock movers in Europe, Siemens Energy AG gained 3.5% after it said the impact of tariffs would be limited. Danish container giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S fell 2.6% after it lowered its forecast for the global transport market, rattled by the trade war.

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In New York premarket trading, Fortinet Inc. dropped about 10% after results from the security software firm undershot estimates, while chip-design company Arm Holdings Plc fell 11% after a disappointing sales forecast. Drugmakers including Eli Lilly & Co. and Moderna Inc. slipped after a report that Trump plans to revive efforts to dramatically slash drug costs. Cryptocurrency-exposed stocks such as Coinbase Global Inc. and CleanSpark Inc. rallied.