WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks showed a strong move to the upside in early trading on Thursday but have given back ground some ground over the course of the session. While the major averages have pulled back well off their best levels, they are currently all in positive territory.
After surging by as much as 1.5 percent to a three-month intraday high, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 161.09 points or 0.8 percent at 19,262.03. The S&P 500 is up 24.85 points or 0.4 percent at 5,913.40, while the Dow is up 3.73 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 42,102.43.
Early buying interest was generated in reaction to news that a federal court blocked President Donald Trump's 'reciprocal tariffs' on imports from U.S. trade partners from going into effect.
The Court Of International Trade ruled Trump overstepped his authority to impose the tariffs by invoking emergency economic powers.
'The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs,' the three-judge panel wrote.
The judges also said tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China related to drug trafficking 'fail because they do not deal with the threats set forth in those orders.'
The Trump administration immediately appealed the ruling, which could end up being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
A positive reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA) also contributed to initial strength on Wall Street, with the AI darling surging by 5.2 percent on the day.
The jump by shares of Nvidia comes after the company reported fiscal first quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Sector News
Semiconductor stocks are seeing considerable strength on the upbeat earnings news from Nvidia, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbing by 1.3 percent.
Notable strength is also visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index.
Commercial real estate and healthcare stocks are also seeing some strength, while networking and computer hardware stocks have moved to the downside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 1.9 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the downside over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index is down by 0.4 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is just below the unchanged line.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved higher following the pullback seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.7 basis points at 4.452 percent.
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