Wall Street's major averages finished higher Wednesday, ahead of President Donald Trump outlining a plan to impose reciprocal tariffs on imports coming into the U.S.   

The S&P 500 (SP500) closed up +0.7% at 5,670.97, and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND) +0.9%. Each average had fallen more than 1% early in the session. The Dow (DJI) ended +0.6%. The blue-chips gauge had lost nearly 1% earlier.

In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y) was up 1 basis point to 4.21%. The 2-year yield (US2Y) gained 5 basis points to 3.92% as prices fell. 

President Trump was appearing at the Rose Garden at 4 pm ET, after trading closed. Investors had been waiting for details on the Trump administration's “Liberation Day” plan to impose large-scale tariffs on trading partners. 

"Improvement in the market is based on two things: first and foremost, news has been circulating that there might be lower tariffs imposed by President Trump on some goods," Daniel Jones, investing group leader of Crude Value Insights, told Seeking Alpha.

"The second is that Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum made clear that any response to the U.S. won't necessarily be ‘tit-for-tat’. It is possible that the market is interpreting this as a softer stance on both sides of the border," Jones said. "However, given how politically driven market movements have been as of late, investors should not expect meaningful upside from this point on until the dust has settled."

Sky News reported Wednesday the administration was aiming to band levies by country and industry. 

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) fell -7.4% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Tesla (TSLA) shares +5.5%, reversing course after a Politico report said Trump had told his inner circle that Elon Musk would be stepping down from his government role and returning to his businesses, citing three Trump insiders. The White House's press secretary in a post on X called the report "garbage." 

Musk has become an increasingly polarizing figure since fronting Trump's initiative to slash the federal government's size, and ire against him appears to have dented sales of his Tesla (TSLA) electric vehicles. 

Tesla's (TSLA) share-price gain helped drive the Consumer Discretionary sector (XLY) up +2%. Overall, nine of the 11 S&P 500 (SP500) sectors rose. 

Ahead of the tariff announcement, the ADP National Employment Report released showed March U.S. private sector employment came in at +155K vs. +120K consensus and +84K prior, upwardly revised from +77K. 

Elsewhere in markets, the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) -0.4% at 103.88. "The harsher the [tariffs] announcement is perceived to be, the greater the likelihood that the dollar will weaken, as traders factor in a scenario of slower US growth, potentially forcing the Federal Reserve to cut rates faster than previously expected," Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades, said. 

For the Federal Reserve, a strategy of “looking through” tariffs is weaker now than during Trump 1.0 because inflation is running above target, Dario Perkins, managing director of global macro at GlobalData TS Lombard, said. 

The Fed “won’t cut interest rates until there are unambiguous signs of weakness in the economy (particularly in the labor market). And that is bad news for financial markets, particularly compared to the situation in 2024 when the Fed was cutting rates pre-emptively,” Perkins said in a note.

Wall Street's major averages finished mixed Tuesday in the jumpstart of Q2 action.