US stocks end higher

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - US stocks ended higher Tuesday on the first trading day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Trump, who signed numerous presidential decrees on his first day in office, invalidating policies of the Biden administration, did not take any concrete steps to impose new tariffs but issued a comprehensive circular instructing federal agencies to investigate unfair trade practices and foreign exchange policies of countries, especially China, Canada and Mexico.

Trump also said he was considering imposing 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico by Feb. 1.

Contrary to expectations, he did not start his second term with tariff hikes, which gave some relief to investors.

With these developments, the US 10-year bond yield fell to 4.56%, while the dollar index fell more than 1% to 107.8.

After Trump did not put forward a concrete plan on tariffs, a rise in shares of automotive companies, one of the sectors seen as vulnerable to possible tariffs due to their wide supply chains, attracted attention.

Shares of Ford, one of the US automakers, gained 2.5%, while General Motors' shares gained 5.7%. Similarly, shares of Chinese electric-vehicle makers Xpeng and Li Auto traded in the US rose 6.2% and 5.3%, respectively.

Shares of US electric car manufacturer Tesla fell 0.6%, however, after Trump invalidated the Biden administration's decrees that half of all new car sales by 2030 should be zero-emission vehicles and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

On the corporate side, shares of 3M, one of the largest industrial companies in the US, gained 4.1% after the company's better-than-expected financial results in the fourth quarter.

Shares of computer technology company Oracle rose 7.2% after news that the company will enter into a joint venture with OpenAI and SoftBank to build artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared by 1.24%, or 537.98 points, to end the day at 44,025.81.

The S&P 500 increased by 0.88%, or 52.58 points, to 6,049.24, while the Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.64%, or 126.58 points, to 19,756.78.