US STOCKS-Apple leads Wall Street surge as U.S. delays on tariffs

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By Amy Caren Daniel
Aug 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks surged almost 2% on Tuesday
as the Trump administration said it would delay 10% tariffs on
some Chinese products, including laptops and cell phones,
driving a 5% surge in shares in iPhone maker Apple Inc.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said tariffs
would also be delayed until Dec. 15 on "computers, video game
consoles, certain toys, computer monitors, and certain items of
footwear and clothing." That eased the concerns of a trade war-driven slowdown in
global growth that have dominated two weeks of volatile trading
on Wall Street, since President Donald Trump announced a new
round of tariffs on Aug. 1.
A 4.8% jump in Apple shares and a rise in chip stocks pushed
the technology sector, traditionally among the most sensitive to
trade issues, 2.33% higher. The Philadelphia chip index .SOX
rose 3.16%.
Boeing Co BA.N rose 1.00% while Caterpillar Inc CAT.N ,
another company heavily exposed to Chinese demand, gained 3.74%
and traders said the statement by the USTR offered hope of some
progress in talks between Washington and Beijing ahead.
"Its unlikely that there's going to be major deal, but we
might start to see some small concessions on both sides," Tom
Plumb, chief investment officer of Plumb Funds.
"It'll be good maybe for this week as we kind of get out of
an oversold situation but the market is going to bounce around
for the rest of the year."
Wall Street's main indexes had initially opened lower,
adding to a global slide in stocks due to geopolitical concerns,
with a Labor Department report also showing the core consumer
price index rose 2.2% in the 12 months through July. For some analysts, that data spoke against the U.S. Federal
Reserve delivering another swift cut in interest rates.
"Core CPI was a bit higher-than-expected and anything that
decreases the odds of the Fed being aggressive in cutting rates
is going to be viewed as a negative," said Scott Brown, chief
economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Financial markets have fully priced in a rate cut at the
U.S. central bank's September meeting following a recent
escalation in the bruising trade war between the United States
and China. MMT/
At 10:17 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 429.49 points, or 1.66%, at 26,327.20, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 46.24 points, or 1.60%, at 2,929.33. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 165.16 points, or 2.10%, at 8,028.57.