Live: Wall Street rises as tariff exemptions boost tech stocks (2025)

• S&P/ASX 200:+0.02% to 7,749 points
• Australian dollar:+0.1% to 63.30 US cents
• S&P 500:+0.8% to 5,405 points
• Nasdaq:+0.6% to 16,831 points
• EuroStoxx:+2.7% to 449 points
• FTSE 100:+2.1% to 8,134 points
• Spot gold:+0.2% to $US3,214/ounce
• Brent crude:+0.5% to US$65.18/barrel
• Iron ore:-0.3% to $US99.25/tonne
• Bitcoin:-0.5% to $US84,488

Prices current around 10:20am AEST

Live updates on the major ASX indices:

Shares in gold miner Bellevue Goldwere suspended from trade on the ASX since late March, after it failed to provide an update on its production guidance for FY25.

The company ran into issues after its Western Australian site delivered lower grades and production than expected in March, which had been expected to be the strongest month of the quarter. That triggered a review with the lender of the project, Macquarie, which has since issued a waiver.

"The company is confident the issues experienced in March 2025 are isolated and that operational changes being implemented will ensure that any similar occurrences would be identified earlier and managed effectively," it said in a statement yesterday.

Bellevue Gold announced a capital raising to shore up its balance sheet, raising $156.5 million through an institutional placement, and has revised its plan for the mine, lowering its capital expenditure in the near-term.

Shares are currently down 20.1% at 92 cents. It last traded at $1.145 on March 26.

The ASX 200 and the All Ords are now up by around 0.2 per cent.

Here's how the sectors are performing in the first hour of trade:

The biggest % gains so far:

• Liontown Resources (+4.8%)
• DigiCo Infrastructure REIT (+3.6%)
• Viva Energy (+3.3%)
• Iluka Resources (+3.2%)
• Computershare (+2.5%)

The worst % falls:

• Bellevue Gold (-20.5%)
• Regis Resources (-2.2%)
• Treasury Wine Estates (-2%)
• Insignia Financial (-1.9%)
• Megaport (-1.9%)

The local session is underway, and the share market is struggling for direction in early trade.

The ASX 200 and All Ordinaries are currently a few points lower, but have been moving around either side of the flat line over the last few minutes.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 is up 1.1 per cent at the open.

The Trump administration is kicking off investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as part of a bid to impose tariffs on both sectors on national security grounds, notices posted to the US Federal Register on Monday showed.

The filings set to be published on Wednesday set a 21-day deadline from that date for the submission of public comment on the issue and indicate the administration intends to pursue the levies under authority granted by Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Such section 232 probes need to be completed within 270 days after being announced.

The administration of President Donald Trump has started 232 investigations into imports of copper and lumber, and probes completed in Mr Trump's first term formed the basis for tariffs rolled out since his return to the White House in January on steel and aluminum and on the auto industry.

The US began collecting 10 per cent tariffs on imports on April 5.

Pharmaceuticals and semiconductors are exempt from those duties, but Mr Trump has said they will face separate tariffs.

He said on Sunday (US time) he would be announcing a tariff rate on imported semiconductors over the next week, adding that there would be flexibility with some companies in the sector.

The US relies heavily on chips imported from Taiwan, something then-president Joe Biden sought to reverse by granting billions in Chips Act awards to lure chipmakers to expand production in the United States.

The investigation will include both pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients as well as other derivative products, the notice showed.

Drugmakers have argued that tariffs could increase the chance of shortages and reduce access for patients.

Still, Mr Trump has pushed for the fees, arguing that the US needs more drug manufacturing so it does not have to rely on other countries for its supply of medicines.

Companies in the industry have lobbied Mr Trump to phase in tariffs on imported pharmaceutical products in hopes of reducing the sting from the charges and to allow time to shift manufacturing.

Large drugmakers have global manufacturing footprints, mainly in the US, Europe and Asia, and moving more production to the US involves a major commitment of resources and could take years.

ANZ's weekly consumer confidence report has been released — and confidence fell back last week.

The biggest decline was in views around short-term economic confidence and financial conditions over the next 12 months.

"The drop likely reflects the more pessimistic global backdrop following US tariff announcements (the previous week’s survey was taken partly before and partly after the initial announcement)," ANZ economists noted.

"In a speech last week, RBA Governor Bullock noted the RBA is focusing on how global uncertainty could impact household and business decisions domestically.

"We expect the RBA to cut the cash rate by 25bp at each of its May, July and August meetings this year."

Former Treasury deputy secretary and recently-appointedCommonwealth Bank chief economist Luke Yeaman has told The Business the manner and pace in which the global order is being rewritten will have ramifications for at least the next decade.

"What we've seen in recent weeks has been quite extraordinary in global markets," Mr Yeaman said in an interview.

"We really are seeing the global trading system and the global economy that we've become accustomed to being rewritten in front of our own eyes… at a really rapid pace.

"I do think we are seeing a fundamental shift in the global economy that will have ramifications over at least the next decade."

Mr Yeaman said Donald Trump has a number of objectives to his tariff pursuit: to bring back American jobs and industry, to bring in revenue to improve the US budget position, to onshore critical supply chains for national security purposes and to use the threat of higher tariffs as a leverage tool for American interests.

"I think there's a number of reasons why he's pursuing this plan and will remain committed to it over the longer term.

"Is it going to work? I think it's going to be very challenging.

"Achieving those goals is not easy, and the global economy is quite good at adjusting to changes in tariffs.

"That said, the US is a huge market. It's still the largest consumer market globally, accounting for around 25 to 30% of global demand.

"So opportunities to avoid these tariffs is going to be quite limited compared to previous trade wars and it's clearly doing significant damage to the US economy in the meantime.

"I think we still have somewhere to run before we see where it lands."

Watch the CBA chief economist's interview with Kirsten Aiken:

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The Reserve Bank's next interest rate decision is five weeks away today, but calls are being made.

In his analysis this morning, chief business correspondent Ian Verrender writes that there's almost no chance, at this stage, that rates will remain on hold in May:

In fact, money markets appear to have priced in a series of back-to-back cuts for the next three meetings.

Much will depend upon the March quarter inflation statistics due on April 30. Happily, consumer prices have decelerated at a better than expected pace with underlying inflation back in the RBA's target band in recent months which gives the RBA some wriggle room.

The biggest challenge, however, emanates from the erratic behaviour of recently installed US President Donald Trump.

Corpulent he may be, but he's become something of a gymnast, at least when it comes to policy decision-making.

Financial markets have descended into a state of almost constant turmoil, the upheaval briefly interrupted by occasional presidential backflips on previously declared rock solid policy.

At some stage, that is likely to spill-over into household spending given superannuation balances have dropped and investors have racked up losses, which will be key to how the RBA reacts.

Read the full piece:

An update to the stock exchange this morning from Collins Foods, which operates KFC and Taco Bell in Australia, Germany and the Netherlands.

The company says it will exit the Taco Bell business, leaving the Mexican fast food chain's future here uncertain.

It wants to complete the move within the next 12 months, and is in discussions with Taco Bell International about potentially moving it to a new ownership.

In Germany, it plans to expand its KFC chain, with 40 to 70 new restaurants in the next five years, while it's reviewing its portfolio of restaurants in the Netherlands.

The Businessspoke with would-be home buyers, who said new policies from both major parties won't benefit them, as they still won't have enough borrowing capacity to buy.

Experts have warned new policies will only increase house prices due to the demand from first home buyers.

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Labor announced, if re-elected, it would allow all Australian first home buyersto purchase with a 5 per cent deposit, expanding an already existing scheme.

While removing the household income limits on the scheme, Labor would increase but retain caps on the value of eligible properties, set close to the average value of homes in the capital city of each state and territory.

The government also committed $10 billion to build 100,000 new homes exclusively for first homebuyers.

The Coalition announced a new policy to allow first home buyersto deduct interest payments on the first $650,000 of a mortgageagainst their taxable income for the first five years.

That's provided the purchaser continues to live in that home for that period and has a taxable income of $175,000 or less for singles and combined income of $250,000 or less for joint applicants.

Read more about the reaction to the policies here, from business reporters Rhiana Whitsonand Adelaide Miller:

Shares in Ford ended 4.1 per cent higher on Wall Street, while GM gained 3.5 per cent. Tesla ended the session flat.

It followed comments from US President Donald Trump to reporters at the White House.

"I'm looking at something to help some of the car companies, where they’re switching to parts that were made in Canada, Mexico and other places, and they need a little bit of time, because they’re going to make them here," Mr Trump said.

That throws uncertainty on the future of his tariffs on auto imports, which were slated as permanent.

"I don't change my mind but I'm flexible," the US president added on Monday, US time.

• ASX futures: +1.3% to 7,792 points
• Australian dollar: flat at 63.23 US cents
• S&P 500: +0.8% to 5,405 points
• Nasdaq: +0.6% to 16,831 points
• EuroStoxx: +2.7% to 449 points
• FTSE 100: +2.1% to 8,134 points
• Spot gold: -0.8% to $US3,209/ounce
• Brent crude: +0.1% to US$64.83/barrel
• Iron ore: -0.1% to $US99.50/tonne
• Bitcoin: -0.4% to $US84,564

Prices current around 7:40am AEST

The Reserve Bank will release the minutes of the monetary policy board's early April meeting at 11:30am AEST today.

Not meaning to be rude, but it's sort of the definition of irrelevant given what's happened since.

Attention will be on any comments about how the RBA was bracing for the tariffs and its views on the potential fallout on the local and global economies, but they met before the (ever-changing) detail was released, and we've heard from Governor Michele Bullock since.

Futures are currently up 0.2 per cent, so the ASX could make a modest gain at the open.

That follows yesterday's 1 per cent-plus rise for the local share market.

Catch up on how we got here withAlan Kohler's finance report:

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Here's a look at the final numbers on Wall Street

• S&P 500 +0.8%
• Dow +0.8%
• Nasdaq +0.6%

Where does that leave us after the recent tariff turbulence? The S&P is down 3.7% since the start of April, and down 8.1% since January 1.

Good morning — Steph Chalmers here to bring you through this morning's market action.

The US stock market has closed and ended with decent gains (in the normal scheme of things)… the S&P 500 rose 0.8 per cent, off its session highs.

Tariff news continued to drive trade as tech names gained after the weekend news of exemptions, with Apple and Dell ending higher.

Comments from the US president about a potential pause to some auto tariffs added to the uncertainty around the White House's trade policies — shares in Ford and GM rose.

SPI 200 futures are pointing to a small gain on the ASX at the start of trade.

Stick with us!