U.S. stocks climbed Wednesday after President Donald Trump pulled back on some of his tariffs temporarily. The move revived hope on Wall Street that Trump may avoid a worst-case trade war that grinds down economies and sends inflation higher.

When President Donald Trump declared in the House Chamber this week that executives at the nation’s top automakers were “so excited” about their prospects amid his new tariff regime, it did not entirely reflect the conversation he’d held with them earlier that day.

A private survey showed American factory activity last month edged closer to stagnation—slowing growth combined with faster inflation—as new orders and employment contracted. A gauge of prices paid for materials jumped to the highest since June 2022. So how should investors react to all this smoke on the horizon?