U.S. stocks mixed as Trump calls for Fed to act

U.S. stocks opened mixed on Thursday, April 17 as the broader market continued to fluctuate on tariffs and other macroeconomic news. 

While investors are keen on trade talks, earnings results impacted the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which opened lower and quickly shed 500 points as shares of UnitedHealth plunged.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite opened slightly higher at +0.3% and +0.4%. This aligned with futures markets outlook as the shares of TSMC jumped amid the contract chipmaker’s announcement of a 60% increase in first-quarter net profit. 

However, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were looking under pressure as sentiment remained bearish across risk assets. 

Earlier, two key events or scenarios unfolded – likely to buoy markets. First, President Donald Trump blasted Fed Chair Jerome Powell as always being “late and wrong”.

This came after Powell’s remarks that the U.S. tariffs had the central bank weighing a tricky situation with regard to taming inflation or boosting growth.

Trump remarked via Truth Social that the Fed had to cut interest rates, noting the European Central Bank had cut rates multiple times- and was about to again. Indeed, ECB went on to announce a 25-basis-point interest rate cut, bringing its key rate to 2.25%. 

In his post, President Trump noted that “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”

With stocks having sold-off this week, led by chipmaker Nvidia, the Dow and S&P 500 were looking at a more than 1% dip on the week. Tech-heavy  Nasdaq has shed 2.5% in the past five days. A shortened trading week sees investors eye a positive close, with tariffs and monetary policy the big factors on most investors’ minds.

Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies remained largely a reflection of the broader risk-off sentiment, with BTC flat in the past 24 hours near $84,500.