US stocks rise as Apple surges
NEW YORK : Wall Street stocks rose 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 5% after White House officials said the tech giant plans an additional US$100 billion in capital spending in the US. 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% at 44,193.12.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.7% to 6,345.06, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.2% to 21,169.42, less than 10 points from an all-time record.
Trump ordered an additional 25% 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.
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 fueled 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% 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% percent as it reported an 11% 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.
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