Exhausted by Trump Reversals, Traders Get No Relief From Rebound

Any other time, it would have been a signal that the worst of the stock-market’s slide is nearing an end, one that would have set off buy signals at trading desks across Wall Street.

Yet as the S&P 500 Index on Wednesday flirted with its first back-to-back gains of more than 2% since October 2022, it didn’t unleash a surge of optimism — or even much relief. Instead, it underscored a new reality that’s been confounding investors for weeks: All the price moves now — the sudden surges and the stomach-churning tumbles — are being driven by White House policies that seem to shift constantly and with little to no forewarning, making it nearly impossible to predict where stocks, bonds or the dollar will go next.