The major indexes staged a historic rally as President Trump paused many of his largest tariff hikes on trading partners

Wall Street gave up an early rally and went negative. The S&P 500 fell 1.6% after wiping out an early gain of 4.1%, which had it on track for its best day in years. That brought the index nearly 19% below its record set in February.

Major stock indexes and the U.S. dollar dropped on Thursday, with the S&P 500 ending down more than 3% as investors remained skittish, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump's move to temporarily lower tariffs on many countries caused a massive relief rally.

The announcement of Donald Trump's so-called "reciprocal tariffs" on 2 April - what he called "liberation day" - sent a shockwave through the global trading system and financial markets. And the President's 90-day pause on some of these tariffs on 9 April set off a relief rally in stock markets.

Canada's main stock index gave back much of the previous day's sharp gains on Thursday as concern grew that the global trade war could derail economic growth, with energy and highflying technology stocks among the biggest decliners.

US President Donald Trump's political allies reacted with relief after Wednesday's U-turn on tariffs, insisting it was part of a wider plan. Trump backed off imposing worldwide higher-rate tariffs, or taxes on imports.

Chinese exporters scrambled to respond to crushing US tariffs by hiking prices, cancelling shipments and rerouting goods to other countries, as the world’s two biggest economies brace for economic divorce.

U.S. President Donald Trump's U-turn on tariffs has rained yet more volatility on markets, leaving investors skidding from stocks to safe-havens and back, and while previous crises have seen bigger moves,