Wall Street is keeping calm Friday after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which had triggered panic in financial markets when announced last year, and stocks are drifting in mixed trading.
The S&P 500 was 0.1% higher in midday trading. It had been flipping between small gains and losses before the court’s ruling, following discouraging reports showing slowing growth for the U.S. economy and faster inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 125 points, or 0.3%, as of 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.
Many on Wall Street were likely expecting such a ruling from the Supreme Court, according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management. That likely led to the relatively muted reactions across financial markets, and trading remained tentative as investors tried to suss out the long-term effects.
Treasury yields edged only a bit higher in the bond market, for example. If investors thought the tariff ruling would improve inflation significantly, it could have sent yields lower. On the other hand, if investors were worried about the U.S. government’s debt rising faster in the future because of the loss of revenue from tariffs, long-term yields could have jumped. For now, at least, yields broadly held relatively steady.
The stock price of Ralph Lauren, meanwhile, rushed from an early loss to a gain of 3.3% after investors learned of the Supreme Court’s ruling. But it quickly gave up the gain and was back down by 0.1% in midday trading. During April last year, the stock had dropped nearly 23% in just four days after Trump announced his tariffs because of worries about how they would hurt its profits.
In other markets, gold’s price slumped briefly after the ruling before erasing its loss. Stock indexes in Europe added some to their gains from earlier in the day, while the U.S. dollar’s value edged down against the euro and other currencies.
Contributing to the cautious trading was the thought that tariffs may not be going away, even if the Supreme Court’s blocked Trump from his sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs. Jacobsen said he expects Trump’s White House to shift strategy and use tariffs that target specific countries or industries.
“This will give some short-lived relief as it just delays the inevitable of tariffs from a different authority,” he said.
Heading into the day, the main event for markets had seemed to be discouraging reports showing slowing U.S. economic growth and accelerating inflation. But they also found a relatively muted response from investors.
While the reports underscore the tricky situation the Federal Reserve faces as it sets interest rates, they did not change traders’ expectations much for what the Fed will ultimately do. Traders are still mostly betting that the Fed will lower rates at least twice by the end of this year, according to data from CME Group. Some shifted bets for the timing of when the cuts could begin to slightly later in the summer.
Lower interest rates would give the economy a boost, but they also risk worsening inflation. Fed officials said at their last meeting that they want to see inflation fall further before they would support cutting rates further.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.08%, where it was late Thursday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, inched up to 3.48% from 3.47%.
On Wall Street, Akamai Technologies dropped 11% for one of the market’s sharpest losses. The cybersecurity and cloud computing company reported stronger results for the end of 2025 than analysts expected, but it gave a profit forecast for the upcoming year that fell short of estimates.
Akamai plans to spend a bigger percentage of its revenue this upcoming year on equipment and other investments. It’s the latest potential indicator of how higher prices for computer memory amid shortages created by the AI boom is affecting customers throughout the economy.
On the winning side of the market was Comfort Systems, which rose 2.4% after the provider of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical services reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Brian Lane said his company is seeing “unprecedented demand.”
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a more mixed finish in Asia.
The Hang Seng fell 1.1% after Hong Kong’s market reopened following Lunar New Year holidays, but South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.3% to a record, led by major defense contractors like Hanwha Aerospace. The company is one of many benefiting from a ramp up in military spending in many countries.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
