Stocks Rise as Tariff Ruling Fuels Appetite

Anastasia Amoroso, Chief Investment Strategist at iCapital, joins to talk about a resilient US economy and momentum in markets in spite of Washington uncertainty.

A tech rally after Nvidia Corp.’s solid results lifted stocks. That’s despite data showing a contraction in the US economy, which triggered bond gains on bets the Federal Reserve will cut rates twice this year. Traders also parsed a court ruling that blocked some of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Most major industries in the S&P 500 rose, with the gauge up about 1%. The world’s largest chipmaker jumped 5% after soothing investor fears about a China slowdown, saying that the AI computing market is still poised for “exponential growth.” Treasury two-year yields, which are more sensitive to imminent policy moves, dropped three basis points to 3.95%. The dollar fell against all developed-market currencies.

Gross domestic product decreased at a 0.2% annualized pace in the first quarter, the second estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed Thursday. That compared with an initially reported 0.3% decline. The economy’s primary growth engine — consumer spending — advanced 1.2%, compared with an initial estimate of 1.8%.

“Historic and more current data brought no surprises,” said Neil Birrell at Premier Miton Investors. “Even if that had been the case, the focus would have remained firmly on the here and now — tariffs, courts, China, Nvidia, yields and equity markets.”

Two of Wall Street’s top investment banks cautioned that the impact of a court ruling striking down many of Trump’s tariff measures may prove limited. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Alec Phillips said “this ruling represents a setback for the administration’s tariff plans and increases uncertainty but might not change the final outcome for most major US trading partners.”

“The tariff levels that we had yesterday are probably going to be the tariff levels that we have tomorrow, because there are so many different authorities the administration can reach into to put it back together,” Michael Zezas, Morgan Stanley’s global head of fixed income and thematic research, told Bloomberg Television.

The S&P 500 rose 0.8%. The Nasdaq 100 added 1.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 4.45%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index lost 0.4%.

President Donald Trump’s appetite for new tariffs remains undeterred, even after a pair of court decisions hit his signature duties with their most devastating blow yet.

White House officials quickly signaled Thursday that Trump will aggressively pursue legal challenges and, if they fail, move forward with many of the same levies through other authorities.

The administration said it would go to the US Supreme Court as soon as Friday if a federal appeals court does not keep the initial order from taking effect while its appeal continues. The Court of International Trade on Wednesday blocked the president’s sweeping global tariffs, citing his reliance on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.

“America cannot function if President Trump — or any other president, for that matter — has their sensitive diplomatic or trade negotiations railroaded by activist judges,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. “Ultimately, the Supreme Court must put an end to this for the sake of our Constitution and our country.”

Later Thursday, a second federal judge declared a number of Trump’s tariffs enacted using emergency powers unlawful, but limited his decision to the family-owned business that sued and delayed the order from taking effect for 14 days to allow the Justice Department time to appeal.

But for a president eager to use trade policy to reshape global commerce, other policy options are far from a quick fix.

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