NEW YORK/LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) - Global shares edged higher in choppy trading on Tuesday, while safe-haven gold soared to a record peak as markets awaited details of U.S. President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs.
Investors are nervously awaiting April 2, a day Trump has dubbed "Liberation Day," when he has promised to unveil a massive reciprocal tariff plan.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released its annual report on foreign trade barriers on Monday, which contained scores of other countries' policies and regulations it regards as trade barriers.
Yet it was unclear how the 397-page report will impact Trump's reciprocal tariff plans.
On Wall Street, all three indexes were trading higher after losing ground earlier in the session, with gains in consumer discretionary communication services, consumer staples and technology stocks being offset by losses in healthcare and financials equities.
"In terms of the upcoming tariff announcement, we still don't know which countries they'll be imposed on and what rate. It's fair to say that the administration might not have the final plan ready as yet," Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), rose 0.07% to 42,033.18, the S&P 500 (.SPX), rose 0.34% to 5,630.81 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), rose 0.79% to 17,435.09.
European stocks (.STOXX), rallied, recovering from the previous day's bout of profit-taking, particularly in assets that are highly vulnerable to U.S. tariffs. The benchmark index, which rose 5.1% in the first three months of the year, ended up 1%, with technology, industrial, and financial stocks leading the way.
Uncertainty is running high. Various measures of stock, bond and currency volatility have risen sharply in the past few days, reflecting the challenge for investors of trading the unknown.
Gold powered to a record high for a fourth straight session, hitting $3,148.88 per ounce. It eased 0.17% to $3,117.63 an ounce.
Mark Malek, chief investment officer at SiebertNXT, said investors are not just faced with uncertainty from tariffs but they also worried about the possibility of a looming economic slowdown given weakness in recent data.
Data from the Institute for Supply Management showed U.S. manufacturing contracted in March after growing for two straight months. A separate report from the Labor Department showed U.S. job openings fell in February.
"I can tell you anecdotally that the number of client calls that we've been taking lately has increased and it's not necessarily about tariffs but they are worried about the economy. They are losing confidence, and that's investor confidence - which is a tough thing to fight," Malek said.
Demand for the safety of Treasuries sent yields lower, with benchmark 10-year note yields falling nearly 10 basis points to 4.15%. But in Europe, the yield on benchmark German 10-year Bunds rose 0.1 basis points to 2.684%.
Investor caution towards U.S. assets has resulted in continued pressure on the dollar, which posted its worst first-quarter performance against a basket of currencies in nine years this year, with a drop of nearly 4%.
The Japanese yen held firm, as did the Swiss franc, as traditional safe-haven assets drew demand.
The yen strengthened 0.43% against the greenback to 149.3 per dollar. Against the Swiss franc , the dollar weakened 0.2% to 0.882 franc. The euro was down 0.15% at $1.0801.
The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.05%.
The Australian dollar strengthened 0.5% versus the greenback to $0.6277. The RBA held rates at 4.1%, having just cut them by a quarter point in February for the first time in over four years.
Bitcoin gained 3.48% to $85,303.07.
Oil prices steadied near five-week highs as Trump threatened to impose secondary tariffs on Russian crude and attack Iran, countering worries about lower prices from the impact of a trade war on global growth.
Brent futures were up 0.05% at $74.73 a barrel, after rising to above $75 a barrel earlier in the session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.07% to $71.43.
Reporting by Kevin Buckland and Chibuike Oguh in New York; Editing by Kim Coghill, Ros Russell and Chris Reese
