US President Donald Trump’s abrupt moves to impose new import duties have clearly had an impact on the US stock market. After he suspended the introduction of higher rates for a number of countries for 90 days, the capitalization of the largest companies in the technology sector increased by $1.5 trillion.
Image source: Lenovo
Overall, as Reuters explains, it has managed to shrink by $2 trillion since last week, so yesterday’s rebound could not completely cover the previous decline, and since the highs of late 2024, the seven largest companies in the technology sector have collectively lost about $3.4 trillion in capitalization. Nevertheless, the observed sharp increase in quotes demonstrates investors’ reaction to the pause in the application of increased import duties for a number of countries on which the business of the largest American companies in the technology sector is highly dependent. Perhaps, this pause will now be able to use the companies to purchase the equipment necessary to expand their AI infrastructure at existing customs duty rates.
The Nasdaq index rose by more than 12% yesterday, while Nvidia, Apple, Tesla, Microsoft, Google (Alphabet), Amazon and Meta
Platforms stocks rose by between 9.68% and 22.69% yesterday, providing a combined increase in the capitalization of the listed companies by $1.5 trillion. At the very least, these issuers will have the opportunity to resume short-term planning of their capital expenditures, since the confusion over the threat of new tariffs has literally paralyzed investment decisions. At the same time, no one is canceling the effect of import duties on goods from China, increased to 125%.
Apple shares rose in price by 15% yesterday, which allowed the company’s capitalization to increase by $400 billion. The last trading session was the best for this issuer since 1998. At that time, its capitalization was close to $3 billion, but now it is an order of magnitude higher. By the way, even the fact that duties on imports from China increased to 125%, on which the company’s business is highly dependent, did not prevent the growth of Apple’s capitalization, since the Chinese market is its third largest source of revenue. China introduced retaliatory duties on American goods in the amount of 84%, which contributed to the escalation of the trade conflict with the United States.
Yesterday, by order of the US President, customs duties on imported goods from Vietnam were reduced from 46 to 10%, and from India from 26 to 10%, not counting the additional base rate of 10%, so both countries can take an active part in replacing American imports of Apple products while maintaining protective duties on the Chinese route.