Stocks rally in Asia as Trump tariffs hit court hurdle

SYDNEY – Asian shares and Wall Street futures climbed in Asia on Thursday after a US federal court blocked President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs from going into effect, sending the dollar up on safe haven currencies.

The Manhattan-based Court of International Trade ruled that Trump overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from nations that sell more to the United States than they buy.

The White House quickly appealed the decision, and could take it all the way to the Supreme Court if needed, but in the meantime it offered some hope that Trump might back away from the highest tariff levels he had threatened.

“We’re just trying to work out what it might mean basically but obviously the market is doing a knee-jerk reaction,” said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at NAB.

“So this may be an absolute storm in a teacup or potentially something more significant.”

Investors reacted by embracing risk assets and Japan’s Nikkei quickly rose 1%, while South Korea’s shares added 0.8%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up, awaiting the opening of Chinese markets.

S&P 500 futures climbed 1.5%, while Nasdaq futures rose 1.8%. The latter had already been lifted by relief over earnings from Nvidia, which beat sales estimates.

The chipmaker and AI darling also projected strong revenues for the current quarter, sending its shares up 4.4% after hours.

That news helped offset a Financial Times report that the White House had ordered US firms that offer software used to design semiconductors to stop selling their services to Chinese groups.

The New York Times separately reported the United States had suspended some sales to China of critical US technologies, including those related to jet engines, semiconductors and certain chemicals.

PUSHING OUT RATE CUTS

The news of the court decision hit traditional safe havens, lifting the dollar 0.8% on the Swiss franc to 0.336. It gained 0.6% on the Japanese yen to 145.76 yen, while the euro dipped 0.5% to USD 1.1230.

Yields on 10-year Treasuries rose 3 basis points to 4.51% and markets further shaved the chance of a Federal Reserve rate cut anytime soon.

Minutes of the last Fed meeting showed “almost all participants commented on the risk that inflation could prove to be more persistent than expected” due to Trump’s tariffs.

A rate cut in July is now seen as just a 22% chance, while September has come into around 60% having been more than fully priced a month ago.

In commodity markets, gold slipped 0.9% to USD 3,259 an ounce.

Oil prices extended a rally begun on supply concerns as OPEC+ agreed to leave their output policy unchanged and as the US barred Chevron from exporting Venezuelan crude.

US crude firmed 47 cents to USD 62.31 per barrel.

(Additional reporting by Stella Qiu in Sydney; Editing by Sam Holmes)