Markets shrug off US appeals court’s decision to reinstate Trump tariffs

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NEW YORK/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Wall Street held gains on Thursday, largely shrugging off a decision by a federal appeals court late Thursday reinstating President Donald Trump’s tariffs. This came a day after a trade court blocked most of the U.S. president’s tariffs going into effect.

The S&P 500 remained higher on the day after the appeals court headline. The dollar, on the other hand, stayed lower against its safe-haven peers such as the yen and Swiss franc as investors braced for a battle over these tariffs that creates more uncertainty and volatility.

COMMENTS:

MARK SPINDEL, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, POTOMAC RIVER CAPITAL LLC, WASHINGTON

“I think markets are just going to continue to be caught in this pinball machine of court decisions, executive orders and judicial reviews. This is what happens when you don’t follow a more sticky legislative process when developing policy. The result of using executive orders is that you’re at the mercy of a court that is ruling on, circumscribing, or endorsing those orders. Markets are caught in the middle of all this, and the result is chaos and uncertainty.”

TIM GHRISKEY, SENIOR PORTFOLIO STRATEGIST, INGALLS & SNYDER, NEW YORK, NEW YORK

“The market has become numb to the tariff issue because the changes occur from multiple parties on a daily basis. Last night the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled the Trump doesn’t have authority to implement reciprocal tariffs.”

“That ruling was appealed and the appeal was successful. Now we’re back with Trump having authority. Every day there’s new news. The time frames are short and there are a lot of countries currently in trade and tariff negotiations. Markets are waiting for an ultimate resolution, which will likely be somewhat favorable to the U.S. overall but they may not be successful everywhere.”

“Traders will react to news like this as quickly as they can hoping to gain a little advantage. But fortunes aren’t made in the stock market by rapidly trading. They’re made by investing in companies … a daily move is just a drop in the bucket.”

“As we’ve seen, courts are ruling in opposite ways so its very, very hard to gain any advantage as a trader. And you have a President who makes totally opposite statements on successive days, either huge tariffs or the removal of tariffs.”

HELEN GIVEN, DIRECTOR OF TRADING, MONEX USA, WASHINGTON

“FX markets have become increasingly headline-weary, and the developments over the last 24 hours are no exception. Traders have adopted an ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ approach to any announcements regarding tariffs, hence the very muted reaction from the U.S. dollar to the headline that Trump’s tariffs are, for now, back on the table.”

“Importantly, the majority of the levies in question have already been paused and will continue to stay on hold until the early July end of Trump’s 90-day pause, so traders are giving this court action until then to reach a conclusion and any reaction to further headlines is likely to continue to be smaller than some of the volatility we’ve seen since April 2nd, albeit in choppy trading.”

(Compiled by the Global Finance & Markets Breaking News team)