{"id":21193,"date":"2025-04-24T07:26:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T07:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/?p=21193"},"modified":"2025-04-24T07:26:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T07:26:19","slug":"nasdaq-slips-to-tariff-and-fed-mixed-signals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/analysis\/nasdaq-slips-to-tariff-and-fed-mixed-signals\/","title":{"rendered":"NASDAQ Slips to Tariff and Fed Mixed Signals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2026\/03\/image_fx-2025-04-24T152247.288-1024x559.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21196\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Points:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>NASDAQ 100 closed at 18,644.15<\/strong>, down from an intraday high of <strong>19,056.65<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>U.S. futures weakened<\/strong> after hopes for a tariff truce wavered.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Trump retracted criticism of Powell but left rate policy signals unclear.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Fed\u2019s Beth Hammack<\/strong> said uncertainty supports a slower policy approach.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>The NASDAQ saw a sharp pullback from the <strong>19,050 resistance zone<\/strong>, ending Thursday lower at <strong>18,644.15<\/strong> as traders digested an erratic stream of headlines out of Washington. President Trump\u2019s fluctuating stance on China tariffs\u2014first suggesting a rollback, then walking it back\u2014added to the prevailing uncertainty around global trade flows and monetary credibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dow, S&amp;P 500, Nasdaq futures trade flat as Wall Street pins hopes on trade deals <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lWbdQd0eU8\">https:\/\/t.co\/lWbdQd0eU8<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YahooFinance\/status\/1915210887218016342?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 24, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell appeared safe in his post after a <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QJevSGQKpa\">brief round of political targeting<\/a> by Trump. The President\u2019s reversal on Powell reassured bond markets temporarily but did little to restore directional confidence in equities, particularly tech-heavy names that have benefited from dovish policy expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Macro Environment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The backdrop remains tense. Markets remain highly sensitive to U.S.-China trade rhetoric, with <strong>Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent<\/strong> clarifying that <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/finance\/us-china-tariffs-need-fall-trade-talks-start-bessent-says-2025-04-23\/\">no unilateral tariff cuts are on the table<\/a><\/strong>. The back-and-forth has whiplashed investor sentiment and led to a spike in volatility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In macro data, longer-term U.S. Treasuries held steady, and the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/04\/22\/10-year-treasury-yield-investor-sentiment-remains-weak.html\">10-year yield slipped to 4.3578%<\/a><\/strong>, suggesting cautious optimism over inflation and Fed policy. <strong>Fed\u2019s Beth Hammack<\/strong> added that \u201cmajor uncertainty over the outlook continues to argue for the central bank taking it slow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Technical Analysis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>NASDAQ 100<\/strong> surged to a session high of <strong>19056.65<\/strong> on April 24, marking a strong intraday move from the <strong>17940.85<\/strong> low just a day prior. This sharp rally was initially supported by bullish alignment across the <strong>5, 10, and 30-period moving averages<\/strong>, alongside a strong MACD crossover and bullish histogram momentum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2026\/03\/image-29-1024x441.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21194\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Picture: NASDAQ bulls lose steam near 19000 as consolidation kicks in, as seen on the <\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/vtmarketsapp.onelink.me\/CD7D\/240525WA\">VT Markets app<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, after tagging resistance near the <strong>19000 handle<\/strong>, price <strong>faced rejection<\/strong>, triggering a pullback that dragged the index back below the <strong>30-MA<\/strong>, where it has since consolidated around <strong>18644.15<\/strong>. The MACD shows a flattening trajectory, with the histogram hovering near zero\u2014<strong>indicating weakening momentum<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the price now ranging between <strong>18600\u201318800<\/strong>, a break below could expose support at <strong>18500<\/strong>, while reclaiming <strong>18800+<\/strong> may open room for another test of <strong>19000<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/trade-now\/\">Create your live VT Markets account<\/a><\/strong><strong> and <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.vtmarkets.com\/login?_gl=1*1azgbap*_gcl_au*NjE5NTE3MjY4LjE3NDQ2MDA3NDI.*_ga*MTY4OTgwNTU5Mi4xNzM2NzQ2MTgy*_ga_J26NL1ZVX7*czE3NDQ5NDQ0NTYkbzEyMCRnMCR0MTc0NDk0NDQ1NiRqNjAkbDAkaDA.\">start trading<\/a><\/strong><strong> now.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The NASDAQ eased from recent highs as trader confidence was shaken by mixed signals from the Trump administration on tariffs and Fed leadership. &#8211; vtmarkets.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":21196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-21193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","tag-indices"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}