Stocks Plunge After Trump Declares Web Rumor on Tariffs ‘Fake News’

The stock market went on a rollercoaster ride this morning, shooting upwards after news circulated online that President Donald Trump was considering a 90-day pause of his global tariff policy. However, the White House has now called the information “fake news.” After it became apparent that Trump has no intention of backing down from a policy most economists have dubbed totally insane, the market acted accordingly and dropped like a stone.

It’s unclear exactly where the news originated, although online chatter and multiple news outlets have pointed to it having been boosted by one particular X account. Business Insider writes that the tweet came from an account known as “Walter Bloomberg” which typically posts headlines and information from news outlets. According to BI, that tweet read: “HASSETT: TRUMP IS CONSIDERING A 90-DAY PAUSE IN TARIFFS FOR ALL COUNTRIES EXCEPT CHINA,” in an apparent reference to Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, who recently went on Fox News to discuss Trump’s tariff policy. The tweet has since been deleted. Gizmodo reached out to the account via email for comment.

However, around the same time, the news was also briefly perpetuated by multiple reputable outlets, including Reuters. An archived version of the Reuters report claims that “White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said in an interview that President Donald Trump was considering a 90-day tariff pause on all countries expect China.” Indeed, the Walter Bloomberg account has claimed that he first heard the news from Reuters.

With the apparent news that Trump might roll back his daft economic policy, the market rose precipitously—shooting up 8.5 percent in 34 minutes, BI writes.

However, the White House was quick to shoot down the media reports. Rapid Response 47, which is the Trump administration’s social media account on X, quote-tweeted the news, writing: “Wrong. Fake News.” The market promptly plummeted.

Later Monday morning, a Bloomberg business reporter came out to disavow any link between the news outlet and the “Walter Bloomberg” social media account: “PSA: Do not rely on Walter Bloomberg X account. He doesn’t work for us and is not authorized by Bloomberg.”

Barron’s writes that the tweet may have been a misunderstanding of Hassett’s Monday morning interview with Fox. During that interview, Hassett was asked whether Trump would consider pausing his tariffs and Hassett responded that “the president is going to decide what the president is going to decide,” whatever that’s supposed to mean.

“INSANE market action right now,” wrote Joe Weisenthal, who runs Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast. “Market exploded higher on a headline attributed to Kevin Hassett. And now nobody can figure out where it came from and the markets are diving again. An 8% surge and then a 3.5% plunge in a matter of seconds.”

Other web-users chimed in to comment on the ridiculousness of the situation. “s&p is now a memecoin,” one X user wrote.

“You know The Economy is real when trillions of dollars can move up and down based on a tweet of a made-up quote,” said another user.

Another user noted that the account being blamed for the mistake is “verified” by X’s standards, meaning the person operating the account pays a monthly subscription fee in exchange for “verification.” Twitter verification used to be reserved largely for professional media organizations and was determined by an internal team. Since Elon Musk took over the platform, anybody can be an expert, as long as they pay Musk’s company money. “Twitter letting random users pay $8 a month for a verified badge just led to a $4 trillion market mistake caused by fake news,” someone wrote.

Trump’s tariff policies have sent the global economy into a tailspin, with critics maintaining that the world is headed for recession. The president has sought to alleviate concerns about evaporating 401ks by coining a new, deeply idiotic term: Panican, as in an American who panics. “The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO,” Trump said, in a post to his website, Truth Social, on Monday. “Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!). Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!”