Stock market today: Dow, Nasdaq, S&P 500 rise as investors cheer Nvidia earnings, weigh tariff legal whiplash

US stocks closed higher, boosted by shares of Nvidia (NVDA), despite ongoing uncertainty surrounding tariffs.

The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) closed up about 0.4% each, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) climbed around 0.3% as investors continue to debate Trump’s next move in trade policy. All three major averages had retreated from their highs of the day early in the session.

In late afternoon trade, a federal appeals court allowed President Trump’s sweeping tariffs to temporarily stay in effect, a day after the US Court of International Trade blocked their implementation after deeming the method used to enact them “unlawful.” That means Trump’s tariffs will remain in effect for now.

A federal appeals court has temporarily reinstated President Trump’s global tariffs by pausing a lower court ruling that had blocked them. The decision, which came sooner than expected, means the tariffs will remain in effect for now.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which oversees the International Trade Court, granted the Trump administration’s request for a temporary administrative stay. This gives the court time to review legal arguments and filings. The administration must submit its briefings by June 9, after which the court will determine the next steps.

As Yahoo Finance legal reporter Alexis Keenan noted, Trump has broad authority to impose tariffs through various legal channels, including Sections 232 and 301. The administration had chosen to justify the tariffs under an emergency act, citing concerns such as immigration and drug trafficking — an argument the lower court rejected.

Legal experts say it’s unclear how the appeals court will ultimately rule, as another court might interpret the emergency authority in a different way.

Long-term Treasury yields have climbed in recent weeks, driven by growing concerns over the trajectory of US debt as President Trump’s proposed tax legislation advances to the Senate after clearing the House.

New concerns emerged late Wednesday after a Manhattan-based trade court struck down a wide swath of Trump’s tariffs, adding to uncertainty around how the administration will manage the deficit.

“The tariffs the court struck down were likely to raise nearly $200 billion on an annual basis,” Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients late Wednesday. That’s “roughly the amount the fiscal package would increase the deficit next year.”

Yields ticked higher in the immediate aftermath of the news before falling slightly on Thursday. In afternoon trade, 10-year (^TNX) hovered near 4.43% while the 30-year (^TYX) traded around 4.94%.

As bond markets digest the latest policy whipsaw, one strategist says investors may be underestimating just how actively the administration is working behind the scenes to manage long-term borrowing costs.

Tim High, senior rates strategist at BNP Paribas, described the Trump team as “bond vigilant — a counterweight to the so-called bond vigilantes in the market,” suggesting the administration is acutely aware of the risks that higher yields and a rising term premium pose to fiscal stability.

High pointed to previous comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who emphasized the administration is more focused on 10-year yields than on short-term Federal Reserve policy.

That matters, he said, because longer-term rates, especially the 10-year, have a bigger impact on the real economy, shaping consumer borrowing costs like mortgage rates.

Read more here.

President Trump’s trade plans ran into a stumbling block this week when a court blocked a wide swath of his tariffs.

But he could bounce back quickly even if the White House plans to appeal the defeat don’t pan out.

That’s because Congress has been handing its tariff powers over to the executive branch for decades, with an array of other authorities at the ready, especially from two laws passed in 1962 and 1974m if Trump needs to reimplement things like his “Liberation Day” tariffs by different means.

“It’s a setback [but] it doesn’t mean that the president can’t find other means or authorities to try to implement this policies, and it’s also just the first step in litigation,” Greta Peisch, a former Biden administration trade general counsel, now at law firm Wiley Rein, noted in a Yahoo Finance appearance Thursday morning.

Read more here.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell met with President Trump at the White House today, according to a release from the central bank.

“At the President’s invitation, Chair Powell met with the President today at the White House to discuss economic developments including for growth, employment, and inflation,” the release said. “Chair Powell did not discuss his expectations for monetary policy, except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook.”

Trump, who had been badgering Powell to cut interest rates over the past several months via his social media platform Truth Social, has yet to post about the meeting.

Read more here.

A US trade court decision that put at least a temporary pause on many of President Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs isn’t cooling Wall Street’s fears over policy uncertainty.

“It is not clear that this is a catalyst for a sustained new risk-on [trade],” Barclays global chairman of research Ajay Rajadhyaksha wrote in a note to clients while pointing out that lower tariffs would mean less revenue back to the US government. That could cause Trump’s new tax bill to push the US deficit higher if it went into effect, exacerbating the recent rise in bond yields and potentially weighing on the equity market.

Stock futures soared overnight on the news, but the equity market rally cooled off quickly with the S&P 500 up just 0.2% in early afternoon trading. The administration has already appealed the decision and strategists like Rajadhyaksha have pointed out that this could merely delay Trump’s tariff rollout, not eliminate it.

“Investors were hoping that tariff negotiations would largely be ironed out in the next couple of months, leaving the Administration free to focus far more on growth-positive policy including deregulation,” Rajadhyaksha wrote. “At least optically, that entire process is now pushed back a few months.”

Read more here.

Crude oil prices retreated on Thursday amid a looming decision due this weekend over the possibility of increased production from OPEC+ in July.

West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) futures fell 1% to hover above $61 per barrel. Brent crude (BZ=F), the international benchmark, also traded above $63 per barrel.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) will decide this weekend whether to raise output in July following increases already set for May and June.

Wall Street anticipates the group will vote in favor of increasing supply by 411,000 barrels per day.

Yahoo Finance’s Claire Boston reports:

Read more here.

Nvidia (NVDA)

The AI chip giant was the No. 1 trending ticker on Yahoo Finance on Thursday after beating expectations on revenue, but falling short on adjusted earnings per share (EPS) due to the impact of the ban on shipments of its H20 units to China.

The company also said it expects to miss out on roughly $8 billion in sales of H20s in the second quarter.

Read the latest on Nvidia’s earnings here.

e.l.f. Beauty (ELF)

Shares of the cosmetics company rose more than 20% on Thursday on the heels its quarterly results and $1 billion acquisition announcement of Rhode, a brand founded by Hailey Bieber.

Best Buy (BBY)

Best Buy shares tanked more than 7% on Thursday after the retailer reported mixed earnings and cut guidance due to the Trump administration’s tariffs.

Same-store sales fell 0.7% year over year while revenue fell 0.9% to $8.77 billion, missing Wall Street estimates. Adjusted earnings per share slid 4% to $1.15, beating estimates of $1.09.

Read more about Best Buy earnings here.

US stocks rose on Thursday in the wake of AI chip giant Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings report and a court ruling that threatened President Trump’s tariff policy.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained about 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved up roughly 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed 1.4%.

Tech stocks led the gains, with Nvidia jumping more than 5% following its quarterly report. Its earnings topped estimates, but the company warned of a second quarter revenue impact due to US restrictions on exports to China.

Other “Magnificent Seven” stocks also rose, including Amazon (AMZN). Shares in Tesla (TSLA) put on 2% after CEO Elon Musk teased a June rollout of the EV maker’s robotaxis and confirmed he was leaving his role in the Trump administration.

On Wednesday evening, a panel of judges at the US Court of International Trade blocked Trump’s global tariffs on the grounds that the president lacked the authority to issue them using emergency powers. The decision will likely be appealed by the Trump administration in federal court.

Weekly filings for unemployment benefits moved higher last week while the number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance on an ongoing basis once again hit their highest level since November 2021 as the US labor market continues to show signs of slowing.

Data from the Department of Labor released Thursday morning showed 240,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the week ending May 24, up from 226,000 the week prior and above economists’ expectations for 230,000.

Meanwhile, 1.919 million continuing claims were filed, up from 1.893 million the week prior and the highest level seen since November 2021. Economists see an increase in continuing claims as a sign that those out of work are taking longer to find new jobs.

Tesla (TSLA) stock rose 2% in premarket trading after CEO Elon Musk teased the rollout of its robotaxis and confirmed he was leaving his role in government.

Musk said the EV maker has been testing driverless Model Y cars in Austin, Texas, for the past several days. Previously, he said Tesla would begin testing by the end of June, per Reuters. The rollout is also expected to feature 10 to 20 cars to start, based on past comments.

“A month ahead of schedule,” Musk wrote on X.

Also lifting shares was a confirmation from a White House official that Musk will no longer serve on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk’s involvement in government was controversial for Tesla shareholders, many of whom felt his attention had become too divided.

“Back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms,” Musk said on Tuesday, adding that he “must be super focused on 𝕏/xAI and Tesla (plus Starship launch next week), as we have critical technologies rolling out.”

Read more here about Tesla’s driverless cars and Musk’s return to the office.

Salesforce (CRM) defied conventional thinking by raising its full-year guidance in the face of tariff headwinds late Wednesday, as it posted first quarter profit and revenue beats.

But the software giant’s stock is trading pretty much flat in Thursday’s pre-market — a sign that analysts aren’t that jazzed by its results.

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi reports on how Wall Street is reacting:

Read more from Wall Street here.

As a US trade court ruling upends President Trump’s trade strategy, Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer points out the rewards that awaited investors who snapped up tariff-bruised stocks.

Read more here.

Economic data: First quarter GDP; First quarter personal consumption; Initial jobless claims, (week ended May 24); Pending home sales (April)

Earnings: American Eagle (AEO), Best Buy (BBY), Burlington Stores (BURL), Build-a-Bear Workshop (BBW), Costco (COST), Dell (DELL), Foot Locker (FL), Hormel Foods (HRL), Gap (GAP), Marvell Technology (MRVL), Ulta (ULTA), Zscaler (ZS)

The United States Court of International Trade has ruled Trump tariffs “unlawful.” Meanwhile, Nvidia earnings lifted Wall Street, even as the chipmaker flagged risks relating to AI chip controls.

Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

Trump’s tariffs in limbo after trade court’s stunning rebuke

Nvidia pops, CEO warns US chip curbs boost China rivals

Court rules Trump doesn’t have authority to impose tariffs

Buying the dip hasn’t paid off this much in 30 years

Nvidia gets a pass after earnings miss: What Wall Street is saying

Real winner in GameStop’s bitcoin pivot is Strategy

Goldman: Trump can offset tariff ruling with other tools

Microsoft shares go from laggard to leader as AI growth improves

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi reports:

Read more here on what Wall Street is saying about Nvidia’s quarter.

Shares in HP Inc. (HPQ) fell by 8% on Thursday in premarket trading after the company’s profit outlook missed estimates and it cut the annual earnings forecast, citing a weaker economy and continuing costs from US tariffs on goods from China.

Bloomberg News reports:

Read more here.

Markets may be celebrating the latest turn in the tariffs saga, but the US trade court’s block isn’t definitive — and that means there’s still cause for concern, some analysts say.

Reuters reports:

Read more here.

A landmark decision by the US Court of International Trade has deemed many of President Trump’s tariffs ‘unlawful’ and sent markets into a global upturn.

Reuters reports:

Read more here.