Trump live updates: US stocks plunge day after historic surge in response to president’s 90-day tariffs pause
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.
