[HONG KONG] Asian stocks rallied with US futures on Thursday after a US court blocked Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariff blitz, dealing a hefty blow to the president’s signature trade policy and providing some much-needed relief.
The ruling provided an extra shot in the arm for investors already upbeat after forecast-busting earnings from chip titan Nvidia revived optimism about the tech sector.
And while the White House has appealed against the decision, analysts said traders were making the most of the buying opportunity on hopes the levies will not be imposed.
After hearing cases brought by businesses and a coalition of state governments, the three-judge Court of International Trade agreed that the president’s actions violated the power of the purse given to Congress under the constitution.
The White House slammed the ruling by “unelected judges”.
The news revived risk appetite among investors, who remain anxious despite slowly recovering from the shellshock of the president’s April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs that fanned fears of a global recession.
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Markets in Japan and South Korea – major exporters who faced huge tariffs – surged more than one per cent thanks to rallies in tech firms and auto makers.
Seoul was also helped by a central bank interest rate cut.
Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Taipei and Manila were also higher, while the futures for all three main indexes in New York piled on more than one per cent each.
‘Market exhaling’
The gains were helped by a rally in tech firms that came after Nvidia reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings, even as it faced increased export controls that it warned could cost it billions in the current quarter.
The firm posted a profit of US$18.8 billion on revenue of US$44.1 billion, and forecast strong sales for the second quarter, thanks to still-booming demand for chips to power artificial intelligence.
Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management said investors extending the Nvidia-fuelled rally showed “the market exhaling after weeks of white-knuckle volatility sparked by trade war brinkmanship,” he wrote in a commentary.
US judges gave a clear message, Innes said: “The Oval Office isn’t a trading desk, and the Constitution isn’t a blank cheque.”
The ruling is “a structural pivot in the narrative: from strongman tariffs to institutional guardrails”, he said.
“Executive overreach may finally have found its ceiling. And with it, a fresh dose of macro stability – at least until the next headline.”
The prospect that the worst of the tariffs could be avoided also weighed on safe-haven assets, with gold and the yen retreating.
Oil, meanwhile, extended Wednesday’s rally that was already underway ahead of an Opec meeting to discuss output and rising tensions over Russia and Iran. AFP
