Donald Trump stunned markets Wednesday with another quick pivot on trade, announcing he would authorize a 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariff plans for all countries except China and telling reporters he did so because people were getting "yippy" and "afraid."
The S&P 500 surged over 9.5% in the biggest increase since 2008.The sharp move upward in markets came after Trump paused many tariffs, but kept 10% baseline duties in place that came into effect last weekend for all countries. The only country that did not make it out form the cross hairs was China which had rates raised further to 125% because of the lack of respect that China has shown.
All in all, it was just another chaotic move in Trump's ever-shifting tariff plans and came less than an hour after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that the president's decision had nothing to do with the turmoil in both the stock and bond markets of the past week.
I think markets finally got to Trump and I believe he wanted to manipulate the markets after posting on Truth for people to buy stocks right before the announcement. I can't wait to see the shock fade from this move and see if any regulatory bodies pick up on the well time post like many of us traders did this morning.