The stock market logged gains to start the week. An early surge saw the S&P 500 trade up as much as 1.8%, but the index settled 0.8% higher than Friday after briefly turning negative and bouncing off its session low around mid-day. 

Buying interest was rooted in relief that smartphones, laptops, semiconductors, solar cells, and other electronic items will be exempt from the 10% global tariffs and the 125% tariff rate on imports from China. The subsequent deterioration was related in part to the understanding that imports from China are still subject to the 20% fentanyl-related tariff.

Also, Commerce Secretary Lutnick clarified that the exemptions will be temporary and President Trump said that he will soon announce a tariff rate for semiconductors.

The ebb and flow of equities was also driven by choppy action in mega caps. NVIDIA (NVDA 110.71, -0.22, -0.2%) was an influential name in that respect, trading up as much as 3.0% at its high and trading down as much as 1.7% at its low.

Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors ultimately closed in the green and seven of them finished more than 1.0% higher, including the financial sector, which was helped by a positive response to above-consensus quarterly results from Goldman Sachs (GS 503.98, +9.54, +1.9%).

The rate-sensitive real estate (+2.2%) and utilities (+1.8%) sectors led the pack as market rates dropped. The 10-yr yield dropped 13 basis points to 4.36% and the 2-yr yield dropped 12 basis points to 3.83%.

There was no notable US economic data today. This week's calendar features March Retail Sales on Wednesday, and March Housing Permits and Building Permits on Thursday. There is also an ECB meeting on Thursday and the central bank is expected to announce a 25-basis point rate cut.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: -4.8% YTD
• S&P 500: -8.1% YTD
• S&P Midcap 400: -11.7% YTD
• Nasdaq Composite: -12.8% YTD
• Russell 2000: -15.7% YTD

Looking ahead to Tuesday, market participants receive the following data:

• 8:30 ET: April Empire State Manufacturing (Briefing.com consensus -14.8; prior -20.0), March Export Prices (prior 0.1%), Export Prices ex-agriculture (prior 0.1%), Import Prices (prior 0.4%), and Import Prices ex-oil (prior 0.3%)