The major U.S. indexes swung like a pendulum Wednesday, starting deep in the red and ending the day erasing their losses and then gaining more ground.
The Dow opened more than 500 points down then made a 700-point turn, ending the day up by 230 points. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both started the day almost 2 percent down. At the closing bell, both indexes had climbed back up to clock in gains of more than one percent.
But not all market watchers were fazed by the swing. “We have been spoiled for the last five years of low levels of volatility,” said Omar Aguilar, Chief Investment Officer for Equities at Charles Schwab Investment Management.
“These swings in the market are not very atypical. [But] the long term trajectory of the market is very positive. The economy’s good, earnings are good, and overall the global recovery is still in the same place.”
Much of the initial sell-off was spurred by China’s overnight announcement of new tariffs on over 100 U.S. products, including soybeans, corn, and orange juice.
China’s decision was motivated by the Trump administration’s announcement that it had intended to tax $50 billion worth of Chinese products.
The tariff announcements rattled both investors and industry leaders, who worried that the tit-for-tat actions were bringing the two largest economies in the world closer to a no-holds barred trade war.
“We’ve been strongly supportive of the Trump administration doing this investigation [into China’s trade policies],” said Josh Kallmer, Senior Vice President for Global Policy at the Information Technology Industry Council that represents the interests of the tech world.
“That said…tariffs are not the remedy,” said Kallmer, pointing out that the consumer would be the one caught in the crosshairs.
But Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s new chief economic advisor, managed to quell most of the market worry after saying the Trump’s tariff announcement could be just a negotiating tactic Wednesday. "It's part of the process,” he said. "You know, there are carrots and sticks in life, but he is ultimately a free trader.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/market-movers-boeing-drags-down-index-on-concerns-of-trade-war).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
