Newly sworn-in President Donald Trump takes part in a signing ceremony in the President’s Room following the 60th inaugural ceremony on Jan. 20, 2025, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.
Melina Mara | Via Reuters
Stock futures were higher on Monday evening after President Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term and promised a new “golden age” for the U.S., and issued a slew of executive orders.
Most notably, the new orders so far did not include tariffs yet, which investors took as a positive.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 gained 0.5%, while Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up 0.6%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures advanced 221 points, or 0.5%. Equity futures gained during a shortened trading session on Monday with regular trading closed for the Martin Luther King holiday.
Trump began his second term aggressively with a swath of executive orders related to U.S. trade policy and energy. Trump is declaring a national energy emergency to increase fossil fuel production. The president labeled his return to the White House as the beginning of a period of growth and success for the country, while largely condemning the Biden Administration in his inaugural address.
Wall Street will be focused on Trump following through on the pro-business proclamations he made throughout his campaign, most notably his calls for looser regulations that helped lift banking banking stocks following his election win in November. Other components of the so-called Trump trade, including small caps, oil stocks and bitcoin, will be hypersensitive to where his administration goes from here.
“Asset prices in 2025 will be significantly driven by the path of Trump’s policies. Uncertainty is likely to persist and be a feature of Trump’s presidency,” said Robert Sockin, senior global economist at Citi, in a note.
“Trump seems to thrive in a world of ambiguity in which his political opponents and international counterparts are unclear regarding his next move. Investors who stay nimble but also stay focused on underlying strong economic fundamentals are likely to reap benefits,” he continued.
Investors also eagerly await what Trump will actually do in regard to tariffs on imports, which has sparked concern that such a move could rekindle inflation and cause the Federal Reserve to step in with interest rate hikes. However, Trump’s executive orders on Monday stopped short of imposing new duties on global trading partners.
The stock market is coming off its best week since the period that followed Trump’s election. The S&P 500 gained 2.9% last week, its best week since the period ended Nov. 8. The Dow jumped 3.7% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.5% last week, respectively.