Stocks shrug off US court's tariff ruling ~ EconomyLens.com

London (AFP) – Global shares gave a muted response Thursday to a US court’s decision blocking most of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, with analysts noting that the issue was far from being settled. The White House has already appealed the decision issued Wednesday by the US Court of International Trade, and Trump has several other avenues to pursue his tariffs objective, as his economic adviser Peter Navarro pointed out. The court invalidated Trump’s invocation of emergency powers to apply swingeing tariffs, though it left untouched his sectoral levies on steel, aluminium, and cars. US and Asian indices mostly rose on the news, while Europe’s main indices closed slightly down in fairly thin Ascension day trading. The dollar weakened against major currencies.

“The gains are less euphoric and more muted than some expected,” said XTB research director Kathleen Brooks. “The latest legal challenge to Trump’s tariffs could be the start of a long wrangle between the courts and the White House, and tariffs may still be implemented,” she said. “Tariff uncertainty has not been reduced by this court ruling,” she added, noting that “they will continue to weigh on the global macro-outlook for some time.” China, the main target of Trump’s tariffs but recently granted a temporary reprieve, urged Washington to “fully cancel the wrongful unilateral” measures.

New York’s biggest surge was on the Nasdaq, which basked in a better-than-expected earnings report from US chipmaking giant Nvidia, pointing to strength for tech sector companies tilted towards AI. However, the Dow was trading lower. In Europe, the realization sank in that the US ruling was not a definitive moment. If anything, the ruling threw uncertainty into trade negotiations the United States is currently holding with the European Union and a deal it has already struck with Britain.

“It does not remove the threat of US tariffs for Europe or end the need for negotiations,” said Andrew Kenningham, chief Europe economist for Capital Economics. Trump’s threat of 50-percent tariffs on EU goods from July 9 “now looks less credible” and “the EU side may feel less pressure to try to reach an agreement in very rapid time,” he noted. “It is still reasonable to assume that the average US tariff on EU goods exports may settle at around 10 percent,” he added.

Oil prices, which had surged on Wednesday following a New York Times report saying Israel was looking at striking Iranian nuclear sites to derail US-Iran negotiations, fell back on Thursday. Trump said on Wednesday he had told Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu that such action would be “inappropriate to do right now because we’re very close to a solution” on curbing Tehran’s nuclear program. Data showing first-quarter US GDP contraction also helped pull oil down.

In corporate news, the star was Nvidia, whose shares were nearly five percent higher on Thursday after reporting a mammoth $18.8 billion in quarterly profits, despite US export controls on its chips.

– Key figures at around 1545 GMT –

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.1 percent at 42,045.48 points

New York – S&P 500: UP 0.3 percent at 5,904.29

New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 19,213.24

London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 8,716.45 (close)

Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.1 percent at 7,779.72 (close)

Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.4 percent at 23,933.23 (close)

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.9 percent at 38,432.98 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.4 percent at 23,573.38 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 3,363.45 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1365 from $1.1291 on Wednesday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3483 from $1.3468