The Dow Jones stock market finished down Monday as investors continued to fret over Donald Trump’s widespread tariffs plan – thought the markets swung widely on a fake report about the president considering a delay to his ambitions.
All the major markets went from major losses to significant gains back to steep losses in a matter of minutes on Monday morning, with a 2,000-point swing for the Dow between the highest and lowest points Monday. The swings came as CNBC and social media users reported that National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Trump is considering a 90-day pause on tariffs for all countries other than China.
However, there appears to be no evidence Hassett made that claim, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the reports “fake news.”
The markets finished the days with mixed results as the Dow was down 349 points and the S&P 500 down 11 points. Meanwhile, the NASDAQ finished up 15 points.
Trump also confirmed to reporters he’s “not looking at” pausing the sweeping tariffs.
“We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us, and there will be fair deals, and certain cases be paying substantial tariffs, there’ll be fair deals,” Trump said.
A CNBC spokesperson explained the error in a statement to NBC News: “As we were chasing the news of the market moves in real-time, we aired unconfirmed information in a banner. Our reporters quickly made a correction on air.”
The rumors appeared to stem from an interview Hassett gave on Fox News, during which he was asked if the administration would consider a 90-day pause as proposed by billionaire Bill Ackman.
“I think that the president is going to decide what the president is going to decide,” Hassett responded.
“I would urge everyone, especially Bill, to ease off the rhetoric a little bit,” he added.
The roller coaster Monday comes after the stock market closed with a bloodbath Friday as the Dow Jones lost 2,231 points and the S&P 500 dropped 6 percent. As a result, last week marked the worst week for the stock market since 2020, and only the fourth time in history that the Dow lost 2,000 points in a single day.
This came after Trump announced at least 10 percent blanket tariffs on all countries — except for Russia — on Wednesday, calling it America’s “Liberation Day.” Many countries saw tariffs much higher than the 10 percent baseline.
JPMorgan’s Chief Economist Bruce Kasman said Friday the investment bank now sees a 60 percent chance of the global economy entering a recession in 2025, up from 40 percent. The last time the increase in chance was that large was in 1968 — and it was followed by a recession, JPMorgan economists noted.
Despite these losses, Trump praised his own tariff plan Monday morning.
“Oil prices are down, interest rates are down (the slow moving Fed should cut rates!), food prices are down, there is NO INFLATION, and the long time abused USA is bringing in Billions of Dollars a week from the abusing countries on Tariffs that are already in place,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO,” he wrote in a later post. “Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!). Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!”
