Stocks jumped Monday on optimism that President Donald Trump may hold back from implementing some of his wide-ranging tariff plans and so the U.S. could skirt an economic slowdown from a protracted trade war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 597.97 points, or 1.42%, to end at 42,583.32. The S&P 500 added 1.76% and closed at 5,767.57, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 2.27% to settle at 18,188.59.

Shares of Tesla, which have fallen nine straight weeks, were up nearly 12%, adding to their Friday gains. Meta Platforms and Nvidia each climbed more than 3%.

Investors remain jittery over a potential rise in inflation and recession ahead of Trump's April 2 start date for reciprocal tariffs. But sentiment appears uplifted on reports the duties could be more narrow in scope and that sector-specific tariffs are expected to be delayed, according to Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal.

Trump said late Monday afternoon that he may give "a lot of countries" breaks on reciprocal tariffs. He also told the press following a cabinet meeting that levies on sectors such as pharma and autos would still be coming in the "near future," essentially confirming they would not be part of the early April rollout.

"Market conditions are improving dramatically as the angst around reciprocal tariffs is somewhat diminishing. From a risk standpoint, escalation or retaliation has always been a concern, but should the administration come through with a more targeted and tactical strategy around tariff implementation, risks of a full-blown trade war are reduced," said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management. "We see this as a potential lift to growth in the U.S., should reciprocal tariffs come in a more watered-down form."

In recent weeks, recession concerns were exacerbated by weakening consumer sentiment data. Stocks rapidly fell starting in late February with the S&P 500, at one point, closing in correction territory.

Trump on Friday told reporters that there could potentially be "flexibility" for his reciprocal tariff plan, which had helped push major averages into the green for the session and resulted in the S&P 500 avoiding a fifth straight losing week.

Correction: An earlier version misstated the number of consecutive losing weeks the S&P 500 had recently suffered. The index snapped a four-week losing run last Friday.