The investors on the American stock exchanges seemed to pay little attention to President Donald Trump's latest outburst about new tariffs, directed at several allied countries. The three leading indexes on Wall Street all rose on Thursday, with the broad S&P 500 index up 1.0 percent, the Dow Jones industrial index up 0.8 percent, and the Nasdaq's technology-heavy composite index up 1.5 percent.
Many economists have warned of the consequences of the announced tariffs, but the financial markets have taken the threats in stride. The conviction is growing that Trump is using the tough words as a negotiating tactic and that he will not make good on all the tariff threats – because he does not want to harm the stock market or the economy as a whole.
Among individual stocks, a strong rise was noted in the casino company MGM Resorts, which reported higher profits than expected during the previous quarter. The business in China went particularly well. The stock surged 17.5 percent.
