I don't cover the markets. I don't want to cover the markets. But if CNN is going to put up minute-by-minute chyrons about the market when it's going down, then I'm going to counter by flooding the zone when it's going up.
The stock market mounted one of its biggest rallies in history after President Donald Trump announced a pause in some of his "reciprocal" tariffs on the globe, causing a market that has been under extreme pressure for the past week to explode higher.
The S&P 500 skyrocketed 9.52% to settle at 5,456.90 for its biggest one-day gain since 2008. For the broad market index, it was the third-biggest gain in post-WWII history. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 2,962.86 points, or 7.87%, to close at 40,608.45 for its biggest percentage advance since March 2020. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 12.16% to end at 17,124.97, notching its largest one-day jump since January 2001 and second-best day ever.
About 30 billion shares traded hands, making it the heaviest volume day on Wall Street in history, according to records that go back 18 years.
"I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately," Trump posted on his Truth Social. Trump, in the same post, said he was raising the tariff on China higher again to 125%.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later clarified that all countries except China would return to the 10% baseline tariff rate, down from the higher rates that previously shocked the markets, as negotiations take place. The pause would not apply to sector tariffs, Bessent said.
At Hot Air, Duane Patterson says that Trump is isolating China and claims that he's making countries choose between access to the US markets and China.
I don't understand the claim -- is Trump leading an effort to have all countries impose tariffs on China?
Anyway, here's some of his thoughts:
First, the tariffs to every country was meant to cause the free world to make a choice - China or us. According to Scott Bessent on the White House lawn early this afternoon, north of 75 countries have chosen us. They are clamoring to renegotiate trade deals. Inevitably, every one of these deals will benefit the United States. It defies logic to believe that America's position vis-a-vis trade with any individual country is going to be worse off after negotiating a new deal. With some countries, we'll be nominally better off. With other countries, we'll be in a much more equitable place. And because we have the commitment of 75+ countries to renegotiate trade, Trump is pausing the tariffs for 90-days in good faith in order to let the negotiators do their thing.
The bottom line is none of these pending trade deals would have been offered or committed to without the tariffs used as an attention-getter.
Second, by forcing the world to choose between the United States and China, China has become further isolated. Trump has all the leverage in the world to squeeze China, and squeezing them is exactly what he's doing.
A reporter asks if this "trade war" -- a characterization Treasury Secretary Bessent disputes -- is now "China versus the rest of the world."
Bessent also pointed out that China's economy is entirely dependent on "flooding the world" with cheap exports, so there's no way they can win a tariff war with the US.
But is that true? As we found out during covid -- which the government didn't do anything about -- the US makes zero of the basic medicines which are then used to manufacture all other medicines.
The US makes practically nothing any more.
I think China could in fact damage the US economy by refusing to sell basic stuff to us.