Day Traders Diary
6/2/25
The major averages crept into the green as even tensions persist with China and other global trade partners. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 35 points. The S&P 500 rose 24 points while the Nasdaq Composite rose 128 points or 0.67%.
Tensions reignited following a brief pause after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met in Geneva and agreed to a 90-day suspension of most tariffs. China has pushed back against U.S. accusations that it had violated a temporary trade agreement. Instead, the country blamed Washington for failing to uphold the deal.
Steel stocks had a good day with possible tariffs on foreign steel makers. Cleveland-Cliffs surged 22%, while Steel Dynamics and Nucor rose 10% and 9%, respectively.
Oil stocks also performed well even as OPEC+ agreed to raise production. The price of oil rose 3% off the lows for the year even investors were relieved production was not increased by even more. The energy sector rose 1.3% today.
The auto sector remains under pressure with Ford and GM down over 3% today. New steel tariffs and news from President Trump that he wants all auto parts to be made in the US, has continued to hurt the progress of the auto stocks and companies. China has also reduced exports of their rare-earth magnets that go in windshield wipers and antilock brakes. The shortage of these magnets could lead to car plant shutdowns in the future.
Yields were modestly higher on trade tariff tensions. The 10-year Treasury yield rose more than 2 basis points to 4.44%. The 2-year yield rose 2 basis points to 3.93%. The 30-year Treasury yield was up more than 4 basis points to 4.97%.
In the commodity space, oil had a good day, but so did gold up nearly 3% back near the highs for the year. Bitcoin was quiet, hovering around the $105,000 level.
A good start to June, but May was a great month. The S&P 500 closed up 6%, its best monthly performance since November 2023. The tech-heavy Nasdaq surged more than 9% for the month while the Dow rose about 4%.
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