All Trump tariffs declared 'illegal': Stock futures jump, dollar gains

29/05/2025 03:10 AST

US stock futures jumped and the dollar strengthened after President Donald Trump's global tariffs were deemed illegal and blocked by the US trade court. Upbeat earnings from Nvidia Corp. also boosted investor sentiment.

Asian shares rose and contracts for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 gained 1.6% and 2%. Equities in Japan and South Korea also advanced at the open.

The Trump administration said it will appeal the tariff ruling.

The yen weakened 0.8% and oil rose 0.8%.

Nvidia share jump
Shares in Nvidia jumped almost 5% in post-market trading in New York after the company delivered a solid revenue forecast.

Global financial markets were hit by a sweeping selloff after Trump's bid to remake the world trading order proved more aggressive than expected.

Trump's tariff blitz, announced April 2, spooked investors who caught on to a 'Sell America' trade as they remained wary on how the levies might impact growth.

The subsequent pause on the tariffs and negotiations with countries have helped stabilise the markets, putting the MSCI All Countries World Index within striking distance of a record high.

Sentiment boost
"The tariff ruling is being treated more as a sentiment boost than a structural pivot," said Billy Leung, senior investment strategist at Global X ETFs in Australia.

"The court decision removes one tactical risk ahead of the July tariff timeline - which is the key clearing event. But positioning flows and sentiment metrics suggest investors are still trading cautiously."

A panel of three judges at the US Court of International Trade in Manhattan issued a ruling Wednesday siding with Democratic-led states and a group of small businesses that argued Trump had wrongfully invoked an emergency law to justify some of his levies.

The US Supreme Court may ultimately have the final say in the high-stakes case that could impact trillions of dollars in global trade.

All Trump tariffs suspended
The order suspends the vast majority of Trump's tariffs - his global flat tariff, elevated rates on China and others, and his fentanyl-related tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico are all suspended by the ruling.

Other tariffs imposed under different powers, like so-called Section 232 and Section 301 levies, are unaffected, and include levies on steel, aluminum and automobiles.

"Anything which could act as an impediment to Trump's tariff agenda is generally being interpreted as good news by investors," said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade in Sydney. "Risk assets such as stocks are likely to be receptive to the news."

Separately, Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang soothed investor fears about a China slowdown by delivering a solid sales forecast, saying that the AI computing market is still poised for "exponential growth."

While Nvidia boosted optimism, HP Inc. dropped about 15% in extended trading after the company's profit outlook fell short of estimates and it cut the annual earnings forecast, pointing toward a weaker economy and continuing costs from US tariffs on goods from China.

News reports that the Trump administration is moving to restrict the sale of chip design software to China spurred a plunge in Cadence Design Systems Inc. and Synopsys Inc. Meantime, Tesla Inc. was said to begin its robotaxi service in Austin on June 12.

Trump has bristled at suggestions that Wall Street believes he's ultimately unwilling to follow through on extreme tariff threats, saying his repeated retreats are instead part of a strategy to exert trade concessions.

"It's called negotiation," Trump said on Wednesday, adding that he intentionally would "set a number at a ridiculous high number" and then "go down a little bit" as part of talks.

Main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures rose 1.4% as of 9:36 a.m. Tokyo time
Japan's Topix rose 1.1%
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2%
Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.9%


Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
The euro fell 0.4% to $1.1242
The Japanese yen fell 0.8% to 145.96 per dollar
The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1987 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin rose 0.5% to $107,870.01
Ether rose 2.4% to $2,699.63


Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 4.51%
Japan's 10-year yield advanced 1.5 basis points to 1.525%
Australia's 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 4.37%

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.8% to $62.32 a barrel
Spot gold fell 0.8% to $3,260.25 an ounce

AFP