IXIC: Nasdaq Futures Surge After US Trade Court Blocks Trump’s Tariffs. White House Vows to Fight

Trump took it too far with his game of tariffs, the US Trade Court ruled. The administration said it’s going to appeal. Clash incoming?

♟️ Checkmate… White House

• It’s not every day the courts checkmate the White House — but that’s exactly what happened Wednesday, and the markets responded appropriately — by throwing a party.
• Futures on the Nasdaq Composite IXIC ripped higher by 2% in premarket trading after a US court struck down nearly all of Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, calling them illegal and calling out Trump for overstepping his authority.
• Futures on the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones also rallied — the broad-based peer added 1.6% and the exclusive 30-member club gained more than 500 points, or 1.3%.

🧐 Making Sense of It All

• The US Court of International Trade ruled that Trump exceeded his authority under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) when he slapped tariffs on just about everyone. The White House immediately filed a notice to appeal the decision.
• The decision, made by a three-judge panel in Manhattan, called out the administration’s overuse of the "economic emergency" label to justify broad levies.
• Translation? You can’t just scream emergency and start taxing the world — at least not without pushback. It might’ve taken about two months for that pushback to arrive as these tariffs were first introduced on April 2, leading to all kinds of troubles for stocks.

👀 Who’s Leading the Charge?

• Is this the turnaround we’ve all been waiting for? Does this mean that Apple AAPL could now breathe freely without fears of business implosion? Shares of the iPhone maker led the charge ahead of the opening bell, up 3.5%.
• But also, Tesla TSLA added more than 2% and Nvidia NVDA rallied 5% on better-than-expected earnings figures despite a potential $10 billion hit to revenue due to a China ban.
• What else is going on? The Federal Reserve released its minutes from the latest meeting three weeks ago. Officials cite in the summary rising inflation concerns that may lead to interest rates that are higher for longer. US GDP data is on deck for today and the Fed’s inflation gauge, PCE, is on tap for tomorrow.