Sawt Falasteen - Stocks get mild bump from US court's tariff ruling

The White House has already appealed the decision issued Wednesday by the US Court of International Trade, and Trump has several other avenues to pursue his tariffs objective, as his economic adviser Peter Navarro pointed out.

The court invalidated Trump's invocation of emergency powers to apply swingeing tariffs, though it left untouched his sectoral levies on steel, aluminium and cars.

US and Asian indices rose on the news. Europe's main indices were mostly flat in fairly thin Ascension day trading.

The dollar weakened against major currencies.

"The gains are less euphoric and more muted than some expected," said XTB research director Kathleen Brooks.

"The latest legal challenge to Trump's tariffs could be the start of a long wrangle between the courts and the White House, and tariffs may still be implemented," she said.

China -- the main target of Trump's tariffs but recently granted a temporary reprieve -- urged Washington to "fully cancel the wrongful unilateral" measures.

New York's biggest surge was on the Nasdaq, which basked in a better-than-expected earnings report from US chipmaking giant Nvidia, pointing to strength in the tech sector, particularly those tilted to AI.

In Europe, though, realisation sank in that the US ruling was of limited cheer.

If anything, the ruling threw uncertainty into trade negotiations the United States is currently holding with the European Union -- and a deal it has already struck with Britain.

It "does not remove the threat of US tariffs for Europe or end the need for negotiations," said Andrew Kenningham, chief Europe economist for Capital Economics.

Trump's threat of 50-percent tariffs on EU goods from July 9 "now looks less credible" and "the EU side may feel less pressure to try to reach an agreement in very rapid time," he said.

"It is still reasonable to assume that the average US tariff on EU goods exports may settle at around 10 percent," he said.

Oil prices, which had surged on Wednesday on the back of a New York Times report saying Israel was looking at striking Iranian nuclear sites to derail US-Iran negotiations, fell back on Thursday.

Trump said on Wednesday he had told Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu such action would be "inappropriate to do right now because we're very close to a solution" on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme.

In corporate news, the star was Nvidia, whose shares soared more than five percent on Thursday after it reported a mammoth $18.8 billion in quarterly profits, despite US export controls on its chips.

Furthering AI sector news, the New York Times announced a deal with Amazon licencing its content across the tech company's AI platforms. Amazon shares were up more than one percent.

- Key figures at around 1335 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 42,159.11 points

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.7 percent at 5,931.39

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.3 percent at 19,345.10

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 8,720.56

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 7,801.22

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 23,988.93

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.9 percent at 38,432.98 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.4 percent at 23,573.38 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 3,363.45 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1347 from $1.1291 on Wednesday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3490 from $1.3468

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 144.39 yen from 144.82 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 84.12 pence from 83.84 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.0 percent at $63.65 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.0 percent at $61.20 per barrel

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