STORY: U.S stocks finished higher Thursday with the Dow gaining more than a quarter of a percent, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each rising about four tenths of a percent.
Investors digested a late-afternoon court ruling that reinstated President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, reversing a trade court decision from the previous day that had blocked them.
Meanwhile, shares of Nvidia jumped more than three percent after the AI bellwether reported stronger than expected quarterly sales.
Ben McMillan, chief investment officer at IDX Advisors, said Nvidia’s results overshadowed the market’s reaction to the latest tariff back and forth.
“That’s kind of been the story this entire year is, you know, it’s been tariff pingpong for lack of a better term. And we saw, you know, a lot of exuberance immediately after that court blocked it. You know, now there’s news coming out today that, well, the White House is almost certainly going to challenge this. Also, you know, there’s still going to be tariffs in place. It’s not like they, you know, evaporated. [FLASH] You know, if anything, I think the bigger story, honestly, is Nvidia, you know, with the beat that they had and, you know, just the signal that sends for, you know, kind of broader strength and, you know, what has been the, you know, the kind of the main growth sector for equities of recent.”
In other company news, shares of Best Buy plunged more than seven percent after the retailer lowered its annual sales and profit forecasts amid concerns that U.S. tariffs would weigh on consumer demand for big-ticket items.
Boeing rose more than three percent after its CEO said the plane-maker aims to increase production of its best-selling 737 MAX jets.
On the economic front, the number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits increased more than expected and the unemployment rate appeared to have picked up in May.
And a second reading from the Commerce Department showed U.S. GDP contracted point two percent in the first quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a point 3 percent contraction.