March trading has started with a bang. The Dow closed down 400 points today after two big events. President Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum and the new Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, testified in front of the Senate Finance Committee.
Chad Leat is a former Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase executive. Leat joins Cheddar to break down the market movement and recent volatility.
When asked about President Trump's announcement about tariffs, Leat says good and fair trade traffics make for good politics, but willy-nilly tariffs are bad policy.
When it comes to the current state of the market, Leat says everyone has the same worry in their mind, inflation.
Leat says the highs the market saw in January were not sustainable. He explains the daily ups and downs of the market tend to freak people out, especially when they go down. But Leat encourages investors to try to look at the overall market and understand the full market. Leat says it is still a good time to be in the market, longterm.
Nestlé has dismissed its CEO Laurent Freixe after an investigation into an undisclosed relationship with a direct subordinate. The company announced on Monday that the dismissal was effective immediately. An investigation found that Freixe violated Nestlé’s code of conduct. He had been CEO for a year. Philipp Navratil, a longtime Nestlé executive, will replace him. Chairman Paul Bulcke stated that the decision was necessary to uphold the company’s values and governance. Navratil began his career with Nestlé in 2001 and has held various roles, including CEO of Nestlé's Nespresso division since 2024.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
