NEW YORK: The tech-rich Nasdaq led major indices early Wednesday after a US judge refrained from requiring Google parent Alphabet to sell its Chrome web browser in an antitrust case.
Shares of Alphabet jumped more than seven percent after Judge Amit Mehta imposed a number of other conditions following an August 2024 ruling that Google illegally maintained monopolies in online search, a decision that also boosted Apple shares.
About 25 minutes into trading, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.8 percent at 21,453.72.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.4 percent to 45,132.14, while the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.3 percent to 6,433.40.
Wall St hits over one-week low as tariff uncertainty sours sentiment
Major US indices retreated on Tuesday, with analysts pointing to heightened uncertainty about US trade policy after a US court ruling barring many of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Trump has vowed to appeal.
“We have more uncertainty with respect to the tariffs… but the market’s not selling off hard,” said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments.
Markets are also looking ahead to key US jobs data later this week that will influence upcoming Federal Reserve decisions. A strong jobs report could dent expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates.
Among individual companies, Apple rose 2.8 percent.
Mehta’s judicial decision in the Google case preserves the company’s distribution agreements, resulting in billions in Google payments to Apple to make Google the default search engine on iPhones and other devices.
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