U.S. stocks plunged on Thursday, giving up more than half of their historic gains from the previous day as President Donald Trump’s trade war continues to cause confusion.
The S&P 500 was down five percent in midday trading, cutting into the 9.5 percent surge that came on Wednesday after the president paused many of his global tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 4.2 percent as of 12.10 p.m. E.T., and the Nasdaq composite decreased 5.7 percent.
UBS strategist Bhanu Baweja wrote in a report that Trump had blinked, “but the damage isn’t all undone.”
This comes after the president urged the world to “be cool” on Wednesday as his sweeping import taxes took effect, crashing global markets and sending shockwaves through the U.S. economy.
Minutes after trading began on Wall Street, he declared: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”
But hours later, the president performed an extraordinary U-turn, pausing and reducing tariffs on most nations for 90 days while increasing levies on imports from China.
Markets surged. White House officials – who just one day earlier said Trump would never back down – claimed “this was his strategy all along” and “the art of the deal” at work.
Social media exploded with accusations that the president had orchestrated a reverse “pump and dump” scheme.
Trump insists ‘it’s all going to work out really well’ and admits to ‘transition costs’ to get new trade deals
Andrew Feinberg writes:
President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed continued optimism that his unprovoked trade war would bear fruit for American industries even as he acknowledged some negative consequences to financial markets in the near term.
Speaking at the outset of a cabinet meeting, Trump said he and his cabinet had been “talking about a lot of different things” and touted recent economic indicators showing inflation and interest rates on a downward trajectory.
He also described the turmoil in stock and bond markets that led to his abrupt decision to reverse massive increases in import taxes from nearly every country in the world as “a big day,” highlighting the record stock market gains in the hours after he announced the move.
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Lutnick claims tariffs have given the U.S. ‘the respect we deserve’
U.S. ambassador to Ukraine to resign early
While she has not submitted the required paperwork, she has been making calls to say farewell to colleagues.
A top U.S. official told the network that the reason for the upcoming resignation was partly because of personal reasons and partly because of policy concerns, such as the USAID cuts.
Brink is serving in Kyiv, a war zone, without her family, as the Ukrainian capital has been designated as an unaccompanied posting.
Greenpeace activists arrested after blood-red dye poured into US embassy pond
Sam Hall writes:
Six people have been arrested after Greenpeace activists poured hundreds of litres of blood-red dye into the US embassy’s pond in protest against arms sales to Israel.
Greenpeace UK said 12 activists tipped 300 litres of “non-toxic, biodegradable dye from containers emblazoned with the words Stop Arming Israel” into the pond in front of the embassy building in Nine Elms, south-west London, on Thursday.
The Metropolitan Police said six people had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and conspiracy to cause criminal damage.
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US-Russian ballerina Ksenia Karelina freed from Russian jail in prisoner swap
Steffie Banatvala writes:
A US ballerina jailed for 12 years in Russia after donating $51 to a charity supporting Ukraine has been freed.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed she had been released and was on a plane home to the U.S. in a post on X.
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Trump plans to fix showerheads and dishwashers so everything gets more clean — including his ‘beautiful hair’
Julia Musto writes:
He signed an executive order on Wednesday that would maintain “acceptable pressure in showerheads” and combat “the Obama-Biden war on showers.” The order targets Biden-era regulation that restricts the number of gallons of water per minute that flow through the hardware and other appliances.
“What you do is you end up washing your hands five times longer, so it’s the same water,’’ he added. “And we’re going to open it up so that people can live.”
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Trump targets Dominion lawyers on same day judge finds Newsmax defamed voting software company
Justin Baragona writes:
On the same day a Delaware judge ruled that MAGA cable channel Newsmax had made false and defamatory statements about Dominion Voting Systems following the 2020 election, President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the law firm representing the voting software firm.
Having already helped Dominion grab a landmark $787.5 million settlement from Fox News over its election lies, Susman Godfrey is just the latest firm singled out for punishment by the president for assisting or employing Trump’s political rivals.
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Source: independent.co.uk