BANGKOK (AP) — U.S. futures slipped and world markets were mixed on Monday after the Supreme Court struck down most of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
Despite the ruling, tariffs aren’t going away. Trump said Friday he would use other avenues to tax imports, such as an executive order imposing a 10% global tariff that he later raised to 15%. He said he’s looking at other tariffs, including ones that would require Commerce Department investigations.
Trump administration officials said they expect other countries to abide by trade agreements based on the tariffs that have been overturned. But the reaction to the latest developments has been tentative given uncertainty over what he will do.
The mixed reactions are “highlighting the winners-and-losers effect of shifts in tariff policy that has just delivered a boost to countries who previously had a comparatively bad deal,” Benjamin Picton of Rabobank said in a commentary.
“U.S. tariff policy will continue to be a source of uncertainty for markets as traders attempt to price in the implications of what is still a movable feast,” he wrote.
Bitcoin tumbled as much as 5% early Monday, dropping below $65,000, though it recovered about half of that decline later in the day. The sell-off has been driven by investors pulling out of speculative assets and concerns about future cryptocurrency regulation.
The original cryptocurrency, pitched as “digital gold,” has lost nearly half of its value since Oct. 6, when it hit a record high of $126,210.50.
Germany’s DAX fell 0.5% to 25,137.69 and the CAC 40 in Paris was unchanged at 8,515.65. Britain’s FTSE 100 was also nearly unchanged at 10,685.10.
The future for the S&P 500 lost 0.2% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3%. The future for the Nasdaq composite index was down 0.3%.
Markets in Japan and mainland China were closed for holidays.
Hong Kong led regional gains as its Hang Seng index surged 2.5% to 27,081.91.
Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.5% and the Sensex in India was up 0.6%. The SET in Bangkok ended nearly flat.
On Friday, Wall Street kept calm after the Supreme Court’s ruling against the tariffs, which had triggered panic in financial markets when they were announced last year. The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, while the Dow added 0.5% and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.9%.
Discouraging reports Friday showing slowing U.S. economic growth and accelerating inflation drew a relatively muted response.
The reports highlight the Federal Reserve’s dilemma over interest rates, but did not change traders’ expectations much for what the Fed will ultimately do. Traders are still betting that the Fed will lower rates at least twice this year, according to data from CME Group.
Lower interest rates would give the economy and investment prices 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.
In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 33 cents to $66.15 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 34 cents to $70.96 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar slipped to 154.85 Japanese yen from 154.94 yen. The euro rose to $1.1799 from $1.1797.
The price of gold rose 1.8%, while the price of silver was up 5.2%.
