Does anyone know how to play this game?
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The markets have tumbled again upon the recognition that Trump’s irrational trade war is an ongoing enterprise:
U.S. stocks fell sharply Thursday, as investors sort through a global economic outlook that remains uncertain despite drastic improvements over the past 24 hours.
The declines accelerated after the White House said the tariffs imposed on China by President Trump in his second term add up to 145%, not the 125% it previously indicated. Stocks then pared those losses in afternoon trading.
The Nasdaq Composite, which posted its biggest gain in more than two decades on Wednesday, ended 4.3% lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1,015 points, or 2.5%.
Bank stocks and tech shares were hit hard, retracing some of Wednesday’s epic gains. Wall Street’s fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index, was rising though far below levels of earlier this week. Gold climbed to a new record high in a sign of rising anxiety. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasurys declined to 4.392%.
Global markets soared overnight, catching up with Wednesday’s epic tariff-pause rally in New York. But there was an undertone of skepticism: While the worst may have been avoided, tariffs are still likely to weigh on growth and boost inflation. Betting markets still call a recession even money, for whatever that’s worth.
Wall Street parsed the latest consumer-price index, which showed inflation slowing more than expected, to a 2.4% annual rate. Prices for shorter-dated Treasurys rallied, pushing down yields, following the CPI data.
You’d think that this would be more than a hint not to sanewash a pairing of the crazy tariffs Trump promised during the campaign with a de facto embargo on the country’s third-largest trade partner. Alas, the Senate minority leader hasn’t figured this out:
History will remember April 9, 2025 as America’s actual liberation day—the day that President Trump backed down from his ridiculous tariff fiasco.— Chuck Schumer (@schumer.senate.gov) April 10, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Tbhs is even worse than the “tariffs are good BUT” messaging, and at least most people doing that have the excuse of having Rust Belt constituencies. He’s literally doing Trump’s messaging for him. He’s just not an anytime consigliere.
…A reply skeet notes an appropriate metaphor for botching an 80/20 issue like this:
CHUCK SCHUMER YOU SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED!