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Equity Alert: US mkts end higher Fri; US Supreme Court rules against tariffs

 

MUMBAI--0738 IST--US indices ended higher Friday after the US Supreme Court ruled against the global tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump. The gains were led by shares of Amazon, Alphabet and other heavyweights.

 

The US Supreme Court ruled against the tariffs enacted last year under the federal law designed for national emergencies, Reuters reported. Calling the ruling a "disgrace", Trump imposed 10% global tariffs for a period of 150 days under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to replace emergency duties. Investors breathed a sigh of relief as Trump's newly announced tariffs were not higher, Mike Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, was reported as saying. On Saturday, however, Trump increased the duty to 15% from 10%, in a move that has come as a surprise to some of his own officials, Reuters reported.

 

Shares of Amazon rose 2.6%. The company sources 70% of its goods from China, CNBC reported, citing Wedbush Securities. Shares of Home Depot and Five Below, up 1% and 2% respectively, also benefited as investors believe the outcome would have a positive effect on these companies as well. "In the case of Amazon specifically, a lot of their stuff is imported from China, so tariffs are going to make the prices on Amazon go up for customers, and when prices go up, people buy fewer of those things," Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management was reported as saying. "No longer facing that problem is the source of excitement, I think."

 

"Now lower courts are going to have to figure out what's going to happen to people who paid the tariffs and the government paying out big refunds," FBB Capital Partners senior research analyst and asset allocation strategist Michael Brenner was reported as saying. "If that's out there, that would be effectively a form of economic stimulus."  

 

On the data side, US economic growth increased 1.4% on year in the December quarter, with the government spending recording its biggest decline since 1972 due to last year's shutdown. However, steady consumer and business outlays underlined the economy's resilience, Reuters reported. The 1.4% increase was against a forecast of 3% by economists polled by Reuters and the 4.4% rise in the trailing quarter. The country's GDP rose 2.2% last year, its slowest pace in five years. The underlying inflation rose more than expected last year, with the personal consumption expenditures index exclusive of food and energy rising 0.4% against a rise of 0.2% in November. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the core personal consumption expenditure price index to rise 0.3%. In the 12 months through December, the core personal consumption expenditure rose 3% against 2.8% in November.

 

Shares of NVIDIA will be in focus as the company is set to announce its quarterly results Wednesday. AI-linked technology stocks have volatile in recent months due to concerns about high valuations and limited evidence that massive investments in AI are driving revenue and profit growth, Reuters said.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Friday:  

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6909.51	0.69
NASDAQ Composite	22886.07	0.9
Dow Jones Industrial Average	49625.97	0.47

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

US$1 = INR 90.98

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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