Daily summary: Tech stocks rebound, dollar dominates, gold pulls back (21.03.2025)

U.S. indices have recovered most of the losses from today’s opening. The Nasdaq is trading flat, the DJIA is down 0.1%, the S&P 500 falls 0.3%, and the Russell 2000 loses the most (-0.5%). The fear index, VIX, is up nearly 1.3% today.

Donald Trump has announced "flexibility" regarding the retaliatory tariffs planned for early April.

John Williams of the Fed sees no risks of uncertainty in U.S. inflation expectations, describing the latest data from the University of Michigan as an outlier.

Boeing (BA.US) shares are up more than 5% after the company secured a strategic Pentagon contract for the new U.S. F-47 fighter jet, valued at $20 billion.

Today’s Wall Street session brings another attempt to improve sentiment around Tesla (TSLA.US). The company’s shares are rebounding 4% today after U.S. indices pared losses following Trump’s comments.

Europe closed the week with declines. Almost all indices on the Old Continent experienced corrections (German DAX: -0.47%, French CAC40: -0.63%, British FTSE 100: -0.63%, Italian FTSE MIB: -0.39%, Swiss SMI: -0.17%), except for Spain’s IBX35, which added 0.33%.

"Everything points to another rate cut in April," commented Yannis Stournaras, one of the dovish members of the ECB.

Shares of International Airlines Group (IAG.UK) fell nearly 2% during today’s session after Heathrow Airport was forced to suspend air traffic for the entire day due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport.

Gold and other precious metals are losing significant value today as Triple Witching Day increases volatility (trading volumes), encouraging profit-taking after a strong Q1 rally.

Brend and WTI crude oil futures tick slighlty up today (0.21% nad 0.29 respectively), while NATGAS contract slip 0.7%.

The forex market was dominated by the U.S. dollar today, which strengthened against almost all G10 currencies (USDIDX: +0.26%). The biggest depreciations were seen in Antipodean currencies (AUDUSD: -0.43%, NZDUSD: -0.38%), followed by the British pound (GBPUSD: -0.34%) and the Japanese yen (USDJPY: +0.32%). EURUSD is down for the third consecutive day (-0.26%), dropping to 1.0823.

Market sentiment is mixed. Bitcoin is trading flat intraday, while Ethereum is down nearly 0.4%.