02:00 PM EDT, 04/09/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes surged intraday after President Donald Trump paused certain tariffs for non-retaliating countries.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 7.9% at 16,469.2 after midday Wednesday, while the S&P 500 gained 6% to 5,279.9. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 5.1% to 39,560.1. All sectors were higher, led by technology.

In a Wednesday social media post, Trump said he has authorized a 90-day pause on the full effect of his new tariffs for countries that have not "retaliated in any way, shape, or form" against the US. A lower tariff rate of 10% would be applicable during the period.

In the same post, Trump said his administration was increasing the tariffs on China to 125%, effective immediately. "At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the USA, and other countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable," Trump wrote.

Earlier, China increased tariffs on imports from the US to 84% from 34%, effective Thursday, after Trump boosted duties on the Asian country to above 100% in total.

US Treasury yields were higher intraday, with the 10-year rate jumping 14.3 basis points to 4.4% and the two-year rate soaring 17.6 basis points to 3.91%.

Minutes of the Federal Reserve's March monetary policy meeting are scheduled to be released at 2 pm ET. At the time, policymakers decided to leave their benchmark lending rate steady for a second straight meeting.

Official data are expected to show Thursday that US consumer inflation rose 0.1% sequentially and 2.5% annually in March, according to a Bloomberg-compiled consensus.

The Trump administration's reciprocal tariffs are likely to push consumer inflation notably higher starting next month, UBS said.

"We expect to see only modest impacts of the tariffs in the March and April (consumer price indexes), but impacts should begin to clearly appear around the May CPI," the brokerage said.

In other economic news, mortgage applications in the US soared to their highest level since September 2024 last week as heightened economic uncertainty pushed interest rates lower, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 2.3% at $60.92 a barrel intraday.

In company news, Delta Air Lines ( DAL ) posted better-than-expected first-quarter earnings, but the carrier opted not to reaffirm its full-year outlook due to an uncertain macroeconomic environment. Its shares were up nearly 18%, the second-best performer on the S&P 500.

Gold was up 3.1% at $3,077.90 per troy ounce, while silver increased 3.2% to $30.61 per ounce.