By Mucahithan Avcioglu
ISTANBUL (AA) - US stocks ended mostly higher Wednesday on better-than-expected inflation data, with markets mostly bouncing back from a selloff over President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
The European Union retaliated against the US tariffs with a two-phased approach involving an initial reinstatement of “rebalancing measures” previously imposed between 2018 and 2020 but suspended under the Biden administration followed by additional duties on US exports.
"These will target approximately €18 billion (around $19.6 billion) worth of goods, which will then apply together with the reimposed measures from 2018. The objective is to ensure that the total value of the EU measures corresponds to the increased value of trade impacted by the new US tariffs," the European Commission said in a statement.
Canada also retaliated, announcing 25% reciprocal tariffs on around $21 billion worth of US goods, including steel and aluminum products
The US announced Wednesday that annual inflation eased to 2.8% in February, below forecasts of 2.9%.
The US federal budget posted a deficit of $307 billion in February, up by 4% compared to the same month of the previous year.
As investors fear the tariffs could cause a global trade war and a US recession, US stocks have been under pressure this week, with the Nasdaq, Dow and S&P 500 dropping around 3%.
Tech stocks also fell around 3% this week but gained on Wednesday as Nvidia rose 6.4% and AMD added 4.1%. Meta Platforms jumped 2.2% and Tesla climbed 7.5%.
The S&P 500 rose by 0.49% or 27.23 points to close at 5,599.30.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.22% or 212.35 points to 17,648.45.
On the other hand, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.20% or 82.55 points to 41,350.93.
The VIX Index, also known as the “fear index," dropped by 9.99% to 24.23.