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Trump Tariffs Set to Wipe Out Nearly $2 Trillion From US Stocks

(Bloomberg) Roughly $1.7 trillion is set to be erased from the S&P 500 Index when trading opens Thursday amid worries that President Donald Trump’s sweeping new round of tariffs could plunge the economy into a recession. Few stocks in the US were unscathed with the biggest ETF tracking the S&P 500 on pace for its biggest decline since 2022. More than 90% of companies in the S&P 500 were trading lower at 8 a.m. in New York, with over half of its 500 stocks down at least 2% in premarket trading.

Dennis Donovan

Trump's tariffs to lift companies' costs and hurt exports

(Reuters) Businesses around the globe on Thursday faced up to a future of higher prices, trade turmoil and reduced access to the world's largest market after U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed their worst fears by instituting broad tariffs worldwide. Trump ramped up his trade war with tariff rates from 10% to nearly 50%. He says the levies will bring jobs back to the United States - but company executives were focused on possibly raising prices, reducing shipments, or cutting back investment activity outright.

Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

Trump's first 50 days mark one of the worst starts for the S&P 500 under any presidency

(Yahoo Finance) The Trump 2.0 stock market is off to one of the worst starts of any presidency since 1950. New data crunched by SunDial Capital Research strategist Jason Goepfert on Wednesday shows the market's response to President Trump since the inauguration is among the bottom of all presidents since 1950. In the first 50 trading sessions since Inauguration Day, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) has dropped about 6.4%. The only two worse starts were Richard Nixon's first 50 days (-7.2%) and George W. Bush's (-13.6%).

dalton99a

DOGE drove layoff announcements to their third-highest-ever level in March

(CNN) More than 275,000 layoffs were announced last month, reaching a level not seen since the pandemic, according to a new report published Thursday. The biggest culprit was one particular employer: The federal government. The federal government announced plans to axe 216,215 jobs, accounting for nearly 80% of the 275,240 layoffs announcements made by US employers in March, according to Challenger Gray & Christmas’ latest report. It’s the third-highest monthly total behind April 2020 (671,129) and May 2020 (397,016).

Dennis Donovan

The Economist - 22 weeks apart

PA Democrat

The false things Trump said about tariffs during his announcement

(Washington Post) Trump’s speech announcing a huge increase in tariffs on American trading partners was riddled with falsehoods and misleading statements on trade that he has made for years. But now they are determining policy that will increase the costs of goods for many Americans. Here’s a quick sampling, in the order in which he made them. We’re sure we missed some — and some claims still require more checking.

BumRushDaShow

Senator Raises Alarm Over People Not Receiving Social Security

(Newsweek) Senator Elizabeth Warren has said people in Massachusetts have been marked as not receiving Social Security benefits as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) investigations continue at the Social Security Administration (SSA). Some 70 million Americans receive benefits from the SSA every month. But recent actions by DOGE, which is headed by tech billionaire and White House adviser Elon Musk, have prompted warnings that benefits may be interrupted.

Dulcinea

Senate Republicans set to bypass parliamentarian on Trump tax cuts

(The Hill) Republicans are set to make the audacious play of bypassing the Senate parliamentarian and moving forward with a budget resolution based on a scoring baseline set by Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that would allow them to argue extending President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts won’t add to the deficit. Senate Republicans are being careful to say they won’t “overrule” the parliamentarian — the Senate’s procedural umpire — but Democrats are already accusing them of going “nuclear” by flouting the Senate’s rules and precedents.

Beachnutt

What to Know About the April 5 Anti-Trump Protest in DC

(Washingtonian) Thousands of protestors nationwide are expected to participate in a series of anti-Trump demonstrations on Saturday, April 5. The progressive coalition organizing the Hands Off! rallies has planned more than 1,000 events across the country for its National Day of Action, with a flagship protest slated to descend on DC.

Dulcinea

GOP thinks court orders they used against Biden should be outlawed, because they now target Trump

(LA Times) The old political adage that "where you stand depends upon where you sit" has been getting aired out in Washington. Republicans and conservatives used to celebrate judges' issuance of nationwide court injunctions to block Biden policies or progressive government programs. Now that nationwide court injunctions are being used to block Trump policies, however, onetime fans of the practice have decided that it's unconstitutional and illegal and needs to be outlawed.

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Latest Breaking News

Gov. Tim Walz Tears Into Trump's 'Stuck in the '80s' Trade War

5 min ago - Apr 3, 2025, 02:22 PM EDT Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) blasted President Donald Trump over his newly-announced tariffs, calling his economic approach outdated and damaging. Appearing on MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes” Wednesday, the f ... (Huff Post)

Judge Boasberg says he's contemplating 'contempt proceedings' over Trump deportations

21 min ago - Nearly three weeks after President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to remove more than 200 alleged migrant gang members to El Salvador with little-to-no due process, a federal judge on Thursday is considering whether the Trump administrati ... (ABC News via yahoo!News)

Trump ordered to pay legal bill of UK firm he sued over Russia dossier

27 min ago - Updated 12:27 PM EDT, April 3, 2025 LONDON (AP) — A British judge on Thursday ordered U.S. President Donald Trump to pay more than 625,000 pounds ($820,000) in legal costs to a company he unsuccessfully sued over a dossier alleging he took part ... (AP)

Trump and Elon Musk to blame for '2020-style layoffs' in breaking news report: CNN analyst

55 min ago - April 3, 2025 8:47AM ET Layoffs surged to the highest level since the pandemic driven by Donald Trump's cuts to the federal workforce through the Department of Government Efficiency. Planned job cuts increased 60 percent to 275,240 last month, the hi ... (Raw Story)

Canada slaps matching 25% tariff on U.S.-made vehicles in latest response to Trump's trade war

1 hr ago - Canada is retaliating against Trump’s trade policy with a 25 per cent tariff on vehicles imported from the U.S. that are not compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).Prime Minister Mark Carney is announcing the move during a press ... (cbc.ca)

Pentagon watchdog launches probe of Hegseth Signal messages

1 hr ago - Published 2:44 PM EDT, Thu April 3, 2025 CNN — The acting Inspector General of the Defense Department will review Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal in a group chat with other key national security officials to discuss mili ... (CNN Politics)

Small-cap benchmark Russell 2000 becomes first major U.S. stock measure to enter bear market

1 hr ago - Published Thu, Apr 3 2025 12:45 PM EDT | Updated 27 Min Ago Small-cap stocks, which were once thought to be primary beneficiaries of President Donald Trump’s policies, entered bear market territory on Thursday after a massive stock market rout t ... (CNBC)

Senators Maria Cantwell, Chuck Grassley introduce bipartisan bill to check Trump's power to unilaterally set tariffs

1 hr ago - Our very own United States Senator Maria Cantwell announced this morning that Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa has joined her in introducing new legislation that would check Donald Trump’s power to unilaterally set tariffs. While the le ... (The Cascadia Advocate)

France's Macron calls for suspension of investment in US after tariffs

1 hr ago - French President Emmanuel Macron called on Thursday for European companies to suspend planned investment in the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping global tariffs on American imports. "Investments to come or investments ... (Reuters)

Nebraska's Dan Osborn exploring midterm bid against U.S. Sen Pete Ricketts

2 hrs ago - Banking on labor populist style of politics to break decade-long Nebraska GOP hold on Congress By: Juan Salinas II - April 3, 2025 8:31 am LINCOLN – Former Nebraska U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn decided Thursday to explore another run for the ... (Nebraska Examiner)

Stellantis Lays Off Hundreds of Workers in US over Trump Tariffs: Reports

3 hrs ago - Stellantis has said it is temporarily laying off 900 workers across five U.S. facilities following the announcement of sweeping tariffs from President Donald Trump, Reuters reported. … In a statement to Newsweek, Stellantis wrote: "As a result o ... (Newsweek)

Republicans panic over Trump tariffs: Last time "we lost the House and the Senate for 60 years"

3 hrs ago - Published April 3, 2025 9:50AM (EDT) On Tuesday, a liberal judge cleaned out her conservative rival in a pivotal court race in Wisconsin, while GOP House candidates in two Florida districts underperformed Donald Trump's 2024 result by more than 15 p ... (Salon)

HHS guts the teams that fulfill public records requests for health agencies

3 hrs ago - HHS guts the teams that fulfill public records requests for health agencies April 3, 2025 5:02 AM ET By Sydney Lupkin Teams that fulfilled requests for government documents lost their jobs on Tuesday as part of the Trump administration's 10,000-perso ... (NPR, National Public Radio)

Trump Administration Threatens to Withhold Funds From Public Schools

3 hrs ago - April 3, 2025, 10:20 a.m. ET The Trump administration threatened on Thursday to withhold federal funding from public schools unless state education officials verified the elimination of all programs that it said unfairly promoted diversity, equity an ... (New York Times)

Multiple firings on Trump's National Security Council after Loomer visit

4 hrs ago - Several members of President Trump's embattled National Security Council have been fired, a U.S. official and a second source familiar told Axios on Thursday.The firings come a day after conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer visited the Oval Office and pr ... (Axios)

Dow drops 1,500 points, S&P 500 loses 4% as stock market rout on Trump's tariffs worsens: Live updates

4 hrs ago - Stocks nosedived Thursday sending the S&P 500 back into correction territory, after President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs of at least 10% and even higher for some countries, raising the risks of a global trade war that hits the already ... (NBC NY)

Speaker Johnson scrambles for solutions to parental proxy voting impasse

4 hrs ago - 04/03/25 6:00 AM ET Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is scrambling to break the impasse over the push to allow proxy voting for new parents, as the standoff between GOP leadership and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) hardens. A band of nine Republicans, l ... (The Hill)

EU, China and Canada warn U.S. of countermeasures, as trade war heats up

6 hrs ago - 8 hours ago Officials in the European Union, China and North American neighbor Canada say they're preparing countermeasures in response to President Trump's announcement of sweeping tariffs on U.S. imports. Why it matters: A global trade war is heati ... (Axios)

Eight OPEC+ producers accelerate crude oil output hikes, pushing oil prices 6% lower

6 hrs ago - Published Thu, Apr 3 2025 8:59 AM EDT Updated 20 Min Ago Eight key OPEC+ producers on Thuesday agreed to raise combined crude oil output by 411,000 barrels per day, speeding up the pace of their scheduled hikes and pushing down oil prices. The Ice Br ... (CNBC)

US announced job cuts surge in March on Doge hit, recruitment firm Challenger says

7 hrs ago - Reuters US announced job cuts surge in March on Doge hit, recruitment firm Challenger says Reuters Thu, April 3, 2025 at 7:35 AM EDT 3 min read WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Layoffs announced by U.S. employers surged in March to the highest level since the ... (Reuters, via Yahoo! Finance)