US: Stocks rise as Apple surges
[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks rose on Wednesday with Apple and most other large tech companies rallying as markets largely shrugged off US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff hikes.
Apple piled on more than five per cent after White House officials said the tech giant plans an additional US$100 billion in capital spending in the United States. Amazon and Google parent Alphabet were among the other large tech names that also rose.
“By standing up and publicly announcing a domestic investment with President Trump, it reduces the likelihood of Trump imposing new tariff burdens on Apple,” said FHN Financial’s Chris Low.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.2 per cent at 44,193.12.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.7 per cent to 6,345.06, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.2 per cent to 21,169.42, less than 10 points from an all-time record.
Trump ordered an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods. The levy, which is expected to come into force in three weeks, is due to New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil.
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A new wave of Trump tariffs is due to take effect on Thursday on dozens of other economies.
But Wednesday’s gains suggest investors are becoming more inured to the levies.
“This is a market that’s fuelled by enthusiasm,” said Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital Management. “Nothing has blown up yet. Perhaps the impact of tariffs won’t be as great as investors originally feared.”
Among individual companies, Disney fell 2.7 per cent as it reported around a doubling of profits to US$5.3 billion and announced a series of new deals to boost its upcoming ESPN streaming venture.
But McDonald’s jumped 3.0 per cent as it reported an 11-per cent rise in profits to US$2.3 billion. While the fast food giant returned to sales growth at US stores, it warned that low-income consumers were cutting back amid financial pressures. AFP
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