Markets rise after court blocks Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs

Wall Street stocks rose in early trading Thursday (Friday AEST) after a US court blocked many of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and Nvidia earnings topped estimates.

Wall Street stocks rose in early trading. Picture: AP

Wall Street stocks rose in early trading Thursday (Friday AEST) after a US court blocked many of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and Nvidia earnings topped estimates.

The US Court of International Trade ruled late Wednesday that Mr Trump’s broad imposition of tariffs had overstepped his authority, barring most of the duties announced since he took office in January.

Meanwhile, Nvidia reported a mammoth $US18.8 billion in quarterly profits, even with a multi-billion dollar hit from US export controls. Shares of the artificial intelligence leader climbed 6.4 per cent.

Early in trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 percent at 42,147.01.

The S&P 500 was 0.7 per cent higher in early trading, and it pulled within 3.5 per cent of its all-time high set earlier this year. It had dropped roughly 20 per cent below the mark last month, when fears were at their worst about whether Mr Trump’s trade war would drive the economy into a recession.

The gains were even bigger in Asia, where markets had the first chance to react to the ruling issued late on Wednesday by the US Court of International Trade in New York. It said that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act that Mr Trump cited for ordering massive increases in taxes on imports worldwide does not authorize the use of tariffs.

Given that uncertainty around Mr Trump’s trade policy has rattled markets, the tariff ruling “has taken a lot of that threat off the table,” said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments.

Mr Sarhan called the Nvidia results “very good” for AI-linked equities. In other news, government data showed the US economy contracted 0.2 percent in the first quarter, a bit less than initially estimated.

AFP, AP