Investors Start Moving Into Defensive Stocks as Tariffs Are Reinstated

Published: May 30, 2025 by Omor IE

Key Points

The tariffs were reinstated by a court, and this has driven up risks once more.
Investors now think tariffs will stick around as the court case drags on.
As a result, they are moving their assets to safer projects.
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Most of the tariffs were put on pause by a court earlier this week, and Wall Street looked satisfied with the outcome as they thought it would put an end to tariff-related inflation fears and would also help sentiment recover. However, this decision was appealed by the government, after which tariffs were reinstated. This reinstatement is supposed to be temporary, but many expect it to be dragged along with the court case.

As such, risks have returned to the stock market. The S&P 500 index is slightly down right now, but certain sectors have been gaining. Investors have re-shuffled some of their portfolios back into safer assets and have sold off riskier ones. The S&P 500 Consumer Staples sector is up 0.71%, whereas the S&P 500 Utilities sector is up nearly 0.4%. On the other hand, the S&P 500 Information Technology is down 0.39%, the S&P 500 Energy sector is down 0.35%, and the S&P 500 Materials sector is down 0.31%.

Here’s a market update as of 11:00 AM (ET) today.

The S&P 500 is down 14.1 points, or 0.24%.
The Nasdaq Composite is down 79.8 points, or 0.41%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 22.65 points, or 0.05%.

Notable Losers Today

Summit Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SMMT) is down 26.3%. The company’s Phase III HARMONi clinical trial showed that there was a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival, but the overall survival trend did not reach statistical significance.
Gap Inc (NYSE: GAP) is down 19.9% after it estimated a tariff impact of $100 million to $150 million.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN) is down 18.1% after its “smoker’s lung” drug failed a late-stage trial.
Newsmax (NYSE: NMAX) is down 15.8% after it filed for the resale of up to 121 million shares.
Ambarella (NASDAQ: AMBA) is down 15.4% after Needham cut its price target from $110 to $90.

COO, PD, ESTC, LZMH, GIBO, BGM, SATS, and TAL are all down.

Notable Gainers Today

LiveWire Group (NYSE: LVWR) is up 53.7%, mainly due to technical reasons. The stock started rallying on May 23 and is up 334% since.
Regencell Bioscience (NASDAQ: RGC) is up 19.9%. It has rallied 109.5% in the past five days.
Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA) is up 12% after it beat earnings estimates. Q1 EPS of $6.7 beat estimates by 15.5%.
Unity Software (NYSE: U) is up 12.6% after Jefferies upgraded the stock to a Buy from Hold. The price target was also increased to $29 from $22.
Universal Corp (NYSE: UVV) is up 11.7% after a strong FY2025. Full-year revenue increased 75% to $2.95 billion, though Q4 revenue declined to $702.3 million from $770.9 million in the year-ago quarter. However, it reduced its net debt by $180 million.

NGL, PONY, IVVD, GATX, ZS, BBAI, ANNA, DGICB, DOOO, SEDG, PLTR, MP, HIMS, EVO, SES, and RUN are up.