Stocks bounced back on Tuesday — kind of.
After taking a drubbing to start the week, each of the major indexes closed in the green on Tuesday, though the buying momentum wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic as the selling on Monday.
In the end, tech stocks and small caps were the leaders, with the Nasdaq rising about 0.4% and the Russell 2000 adding just less than 0.7%, while the Dow and S&P 500 gained 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively.
The day’s biggest business and markets story, however, was not taking place in financial markets. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump railed against Harley-Davidson’s (HOG) announcement that it would move some manufacturing overseas after the EU enacted tariffs that would impact Harleys built in the U.S. but sold in Europe.
“A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never!” Trump tweeted early Tuesday.
“Their employees and customers are already very angry at them. If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end – they surrendered, they quit! The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!”
Shares of Harley-Davidson fell 0.6% on Tuesday.
And while Harley-Davidson may appear to be on an island right now, it would seem unlikely that they are the last company to make an investment decision that is net negative for the U.S. economy — either by pulling investment, employees, or both — from the country given the current state of play.
In his series of tweets on Tuesday, Trump acknowledged that there is currently a trade war breaking out and urged U.S. corporations to show patience. “We are finishing our study of Tariffs on cars from the E.U. in that they have long taken advantage of the U.S. in the form of Trade Barriers and Tariffs,” Trump said. “In the end it will all even out – and it won’t take very long!”
So while the corporate world certainly had Trump’s back in 2017 when many businesses urged the administration to cut corporate taxes, tariffs are likely to be a different story. And Harley-Davidson probably isn’t the last company that will change its plans as a result — and thus not the last to catch the ire of the president.
Economic and earnings calendar
On the calendar for Wednesday, U.S. investors will have a decent flow of economic data to digest, though nothing should be market moving as pending home sales, durable goods orders, and wholesale inventories for May will all be released in the morning.
And on the earnings calendar, results from Paychex (PAYX) and General Mills (GIS) will be the highlights.
And for those investors with a more international focus, Luke Kawa at Bloomberg argues that Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz — think of him as the Jay Powell of Canada — will give his most important speech in three years on Wednesday.
Headlines from his remarks, which are set to take place at 3:00 p.m. ET, could be a major catalyst for a move in USDCAD.
—
Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland
