TRADING DAY-A welcome dose of AI, tariff relief

By Jamie McGeever

ORLANDO, Florida, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Stocks rebounded on Tuesday, lifted by a sense that recent fears around AI disruption were overdone, as investors also digested a surprise tariff reduction from U.S. President Donald Trump and looked forward to tech giant Nvidia's earnings.

More on that below. In my column today I look at why, although U.S. equity markets are lagging their global peers, the 'Sell America' narrative may just be hot air - the numbers show that foreign purchases of U.S. assets have never been higher.

If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets today.

1. Anthropic touts new AI tools weeks after legal plug-in spurred market rout

2. Nvidia results are AI market's biggest test amid competitive worries

3. New US tariffs come in at lower 10% rate

4. Next Fed move a hike? Bostic's parting shot raises alarm: Mike Dolan

5. Japan PM voiced concerns about further rate hikes to BOJ, Mainichi reports

Today's Key Market Moves

• STOCKS: Taiwan, South Korea +2.5% to new peaks. Brazil's Bovespa hits fresh high too, 200,000 points in sight. Wall Street rebounds strongly, S&P 500's technical support at 100-DMA holds firm again.

• SECTORS/SHARES: Nine S&P 500 sectors rise - tech, consumer discretionaries, industrials and utilities up more than 1%. Healthcare and energy fall. Philadelphia semiconductor index posts record high close. AMD +9%, Intel +6%, Salesforce +4%, IBM +2.7%.

• FX: USD/CNY lowest in almost a year, JPY the biggest decliner in G10 FX on PM Takaichi comments. Bitcoin falls below $63,000 but recovers.

• BONDS: Treasuries slip at the short end, weighed by soft two-year auction. 2s/10s curve flattens for 10th day in a row, something not seen in over 10 years. Spain's syndicated 30-year bond sale draws record demand.

• COMMODITIES/METALS: Oil -1% on U.S.-Iran deal hopes. Gold -2%.

Today's Talking Points

Pause for breath

The gloom that has hung heavily over U.S. stocks lifted a bit on Tuesday as investors looked on AI lab Anthropic's latest new technology plug-ins, targeting industries such as investment banking and HR, in a more tolerant and favorable light.

Shares that had been crushed, partly by Anthropic's recent AI tool launches, clawed back some losses - Thomson Reuters jumped 11.5%, the biggest rise since 2008. But don't get too excited. The S&P 500 software and services index, which has lost over 20% in less than four weeks, rebounded only 1%. Hardly a sign investors are desperate to get back in.

Trump's tariff turnaround

A timeline: On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against most of President Donald Trump's tariffs, prompting him to sign an order imposing temporary 10% global tariffs; On Saturday, Trump said he would raise this to 15%; On Monday, that was lowered back to 10%, although Trump is still looking to increase it to 15%.

Confused? You should be. Policymakers around the world are trying to make sense of it too - officials in Europe, Japan, Britain and elsewhere have said they hope the trade deals they struck with the U.S. last year will be honored. But will they? Perhaps Trump will provide more clarity around his intentions in the State of the Union address to Congress later on Tuesday.

Yuan way traffic

The bullish momentum behind China's yuan is quite something. The onshore yuan on Tuesday clocked its biggest rise against the dollar this year, rising for an eighth consecutive trading session. That's its longest winning streak since April, 2024. The last time it rose nine days in a row was September, 2010.

Much of Tuesday's move was down to the market re-opening after Lunar New Year holiday. The trend is clear. Interestingly, however, Beijing is likely still intervening heavily to limit the currency's upside, recycling record trade surplus inflows into foreign assets, including Treasuries.

What could move markets tomorrow?

• Australia CPI inflation (January)

• Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock speaks

• Japan service sector PPI inflation (January)

• Thailand interest rate decision

• European Central Bank board members

• Euro zone inflation (January, final)

• Germany GfK consumer sentiment (March)

• Germany GDP (Q4, detailed)

• Nvidia reports Q4 earnings (after closing bell)

• U.S. Treasury sells $70 billion of five-year notes at auction

• U.S. Federal Reserve officials scheduled to speak include Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin, Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid, and St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem

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