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

New York (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 the issue is far from settled. The US Court of International Trade ruled late Wednesday that Trump’s broad imposition of tariffs had overstepped his authority, barring most of the duties announced since he took office in January. But an appeals court later issued a temporary suspension on the ruling while the litigation proceeds.

Wall Street stocks finished modestly higher following a choppy session, with the S&P 500 up 0.4 percent. 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 observed.

“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. The tariff ruling overshadowed heavily anticipated results from Nvidia, which is seen as a proxy for artificial intelligence equities. Nvidia jumped 3.3 percent after reporting a mammoth $18.8 billion in quarterly profits, even with a multi-billion dollar hit from US export controls.

In Europe, 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 stated. “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 on the back of a New York Times report saying Israel was looking at striking Iranian nuclear sites to derail US-Iran negotiations, fell back on Thursday following mixed US economic data. Among individual companies, Boeing climbed 3.3 percent after the company’s CEO said he was hopeful the company could be cleared by US regulators to significantly boost production of the 737 MAX, leading to higher revenues.