Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) shares surged 27% in premarket trading Monday. This followed President Donald Trump’s announcement last Friday to raise steel and aluminum tariffs from 25% to 50%. The tariff hike is expected to increase costs for cars and many consumer goods that use these metals.
Competitors Nucor (NUE) and Steel Dynamics (STLD) also saw their stocks rise nearly 12%. Meanwhile, futures for the Dow Jones fell 0.25%, and NASDAQ and S&P 500 futures dropped 0.37%.
The tariff increase adds to investor concerns. Over the weekend, the General Services Administration sent letters to 10 tech companies, including Dell and CDW, asking them to review their government contracts for potential savings.
This reflects the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to cut government spending, which has already canceled over 11,300 contracts saving about $33 billion.
Tensions with China also contributed to market unease. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned at a defense summit that China poses a real and possibly imminent threat. This statement helped push U.S. Treasury yields higher and gold prices up more than 2% Monday morning.
Cleveland-Cliffs stock had fallen 65% over the past year, partly due to its failed attempt to acquire U.S. Steel, which was bought by Japan’s Nippon Steel for nearly $15 billion.
With Monday’s gains, CLF is trading near $7.20. Technical targets for the stock include the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement at $7.45 and the 38.2% retracement at $7.79, with the 50-day moving average around $7.73
Read more:
