An untrue report about a possible 90-day pause on President Donald Trump’s widespread tariffs caused massive swings in the stock market – as all the major markets went from major losses to major wins back to steep losses in a matter of minutes.
Stocks turned positive around 10:30 a.m. in a sudden reversal of recent trends, with the Dow Jones shooting up before falling back down to a loss of 629 points. The S&P 500 also spiked up and down suddenly on Monday morning.
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 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.
This comes after the stock market closed with a bloodbath on 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.”
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 on 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!”
