Dow Soars 200 Points as Trump Slaps Chip Tariffs—Traders Cheer Short-Term Wins

Markets shrug off long-term consequences as Trump's latest tariff move sends the Dow Jones sprinting upward. Semiconductor stocks? Not so lucky.

Wall Street's Pavlovian Response

Another day, another 200-point dopamine hit for the Dow. The index rallied as traders celebrated Trump's aggressive semiconductor tariffs—because nothing fuels market optimism like protectionist trade wars, right?

Chips Fall Where They May

While blue-chip stocks enjoyed the sugar rush, chipmakers braced for impact. Tariffs might boost domestic production... or just trigger a global supply chain migraine. But hey—quarterly earnings wait for no economist.

The Closing Irony

Funny how 'economic nationalism' always seems to benefit algorithms more than actual factory workers. The Dow's up—place your bets on how long until the hangover hits.

Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs 

Wall Street was eyeing fresh gains as Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs come into effect, hitting several trading partners of the United States.

After weathering the initial onslaught of the “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, stocks have largely held an upbeat outlook in the face of trade tensions, and rallied amid multiple notable deals. The new sweeping tariffs range between 10% and 50%, with deals in place between the U.S. and Japan, South Korea and the European Union for a new 15% tariff rate. 

Meanwhile, a number of countries face higher rates, including Brazil, India and Switzerland. Trump commented via Truth Social that trade deadline sees the U.S. net “billions of dollars in tariffs”.

Tech stocks gain on chip tariffs exemptions

Despite some sense of uncertainty, investors are largely positive and looking beyond the haze with eyes on interest rates, corporate earnings and the broader global economy.

Notably, the tariff market has provided a slight nudge for equities on Thursday, with Trump’s announcement on Wednesday of an exemption from the 100% tariff on imported chips for companies “building in the United States.”

This has seen Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices shares gain 2% and 3% in early trading respectively.

Apple’s stock also jumped amid the move, rising 2% as the iPhone Maker edged higher following commitment to invest an additional $100 billion in the U.S. That means Apple plans to invest up to $600 billion in American companies and suppliers in the next four years.