US stock futures fell on Wednesday after Nvidia (NVDA) revealed costly new curbs on chip exports to China, and investors grappled with uncertainty over President Trump’s trade policy.

Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) slumped 0.8%. Futures attached to the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) sank 1.4%. Futures attached to the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (NQ=F) plummeted 2.2%.

A new filing from Nvidia on Tuesday showed that the US government has required licenses for exports to China of the company’s H20 artificial intelligence chip. The chip giant said the move would result in $5.5 billion in charges to the company, causing its shares to plummet in after-hours trading.

Earlier in the day on Tuesday, US stocks lost steam, drifting lower after a brief rally as the trajectory of Trump’s trade policy continues to perplex Wall Street.

Tariffs on key imports remain up in the air. Exemptions from auto duties are reportedly under consideration, while the ultimate fate of recently paused tariffs on consumer electronics is unknown. At the same time, the Trump administration is setting the stage for new levies on pharmaceutical and semiconductor imports, as well as critical minerals.

The future of tariffs affecting US trading partners is similarly murky. The president has touted ongoing negotiations with countries, other than China, since instituting a 90 day pause on most ‘reciprocal’ tariffs last week.

In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Finance on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett said he expects to see “substantial clarity” on tariffs with major US trading partners, excluding China, before Trump’s 90 day pause concludes.

“Once we reach a level that we’ve agreed on and they’ve agreed to lower their tariffs, lower their non tariff barriers, currency manipulation, and subsidies of industry and labor, then I think we can move forward,” Bessett said.

On Wednesday, investors will be watching for new data from the Census Bureau on retail sales as warnings of an economic slowdown pile up on Wall Street.

In commodities, gold (GC=F) has reached a new record as the escalating trade war between the US and China pushes investors towards safe havens. Bullion pushed past $3,275 an ounce for the first time late Tuesday evening after gaining 1.4% throughout the day.

It’s been utter chaos in the stock market this month, and AOC has a lot to say about it.

Quick recap: Following Donald Trump’s so-called Liberation Day and the details of his nonsensical tariff plan, the market nosedived earlier this month. In fact, the first week of April was officially the worst week since 2020 during the pandemic. People panicked about their plummeting retirement accounts and grew deeply concerned about the future of global trade.

On the morning of April 9, Trump posted on Truth Social, writing, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.”

A couple hours later, he shared, “I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately.” The market rallied HARD: The S&P 500 and the Dow saw their biggest single-day surges since 2008, and the Nasdaq ended the day with the second-largest one-day rally in its history, per Yahoo! Finance.

Donald Trump / Via truthsocial.com

Well! If you know anything about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, you can probably guess she wasn’t a fan of all this. AOC famously doesn’t own any private stocks and is one of the least wealthy members of Congress. In fact, she’s introduced several bills over the years that hoped to ban lawmakers from holding or trading individual stocks.

In a tweet that garnered over 209,000 likes, she wrote, “Any member of Congress who purchased stocks in the last 48 hours should probably disclose that now. I’ve been hearing some interesting chatter on the floor. Disclosure deadline is May 15th. We’re about to learn a few things. It’s time to ban insider trading in Congress.”

In an interview with Spectrum News NY1, she said, “If people are pissed about insider trading here at the House, look at what’s happening at the White House right now, with the Republican Party… I don’t think that Trump just coincidentally said buy stocks and then shortly later made an announcement that dramatically inflated and dramatically raised a lot of these asset prices.”

And AOC isn’t the only one. Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to the SEC asking for an investigation into whether Trump’s actions “enriched administration insiders and friends at the expense of the American public and whether any insiders, including the president’s family, had prior knowledge of the tariff pause that they abused to make stock trades ahead of the president’s announcement.” The letter was signed by numerous Democrats, including Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.

Additionally, nearly 20 Democrats in the House signed a letter from Maxine Waters to the SEC demanding a similar investigation. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has also spoken out about the “need to get to the bottom of the possible stock manipulation that is unfolding before the American people.”

Compare that energy to Trump bragging about how much money his billionaire friends made in the rally!

Here’s what people are saying about all this:

Comments were taken from Reddit threads here, here, here, and here.

“Members of Congress should be banned from trading stocks while they’re in Congress and probably also some time after. It’s wild to allow them to trade while making rules that impact the value of the commodities they’re trading.”

—u/chubs66

“It’s wild that such a blatant conflict of interest has been able to go on for so long. I guess it makes sense though, considering that the people who benefit from it are the ones who would have to change it.”

—u/Millennial_Man

“If Obama or Biden ever did something like this, boyyyyyy.”

—u/HeadDiver5568

“A lot of people who hate AOC have been brainwashed by their media sources to forget that she primaried and beat one of the top, most entrenched Democrats. That’s why everyone hated her, Democrat and Republican. She is fighting against the system. That is why she and Bernie are such a natural pair to tour the country and ignite the resistance.”

—u/imadeathrow_away

“Not a single voter should be okay with this from either political party.”

—u/ChecksAndBalanz

“Hard not to like AOC if you have even half a brain.”

—u/RackCitySanta

“Doesn’t matter even if it were insider trading. DJT knows SCOTUS gave him a pass, and all he needs to do is claim it was a ‘presidential act.'”

—Classic-Dimension-54

“True, but it’s important for the people to know. If they choose to believe it, that is.”

—u/dolemiteo24

“Sorry AOC, Congress can’t hear you over all the money they’re making.”

—u/KidKilobyte

“Martha Stewart must be livid.”

—u/Separate_Today_8781

And finally, “I love AOC. She’s a true champion for the people.”

So, in summary: EAT THE RICH!

US stocks rose Monday as traders rallied on the Trump administration’s exemption for tariffs on smartphones, computers and various electronics imported from China.

The Dow rose 312 points, or 0.78%. The broader S&P 500 rose 0.79%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.64%.

All three major indexes closed higher after a choppy day of trading. Stock indexes had opened higher before giving up some gains across the morning as a rally in tech stocks lost some steam. The Nasdaq rose as much as 2.4% in the morning before fluctuating between gains and losses midday and then gradually gaining. The Dow and the S&P 500 briefly dipped into the red midday before gaining in the afternoon.

US stock futures had gained over the weekend after investors realized on Saturday that the Trump administration issued tariff exemptions for electronics imported from China, according to a US Customs and Border Protection notice posted late Friday.

The exemptions come after President Donald Trump on Wednesday imposed a tariff rate of 145% on imports from China. However, the exemptions do not apply to the 20% tariff on imports from China over the country’s role in the fentanyl trade. Apple (AAPL) rallied 2.2% Monday.

While stocks gained, confusion lingers around the trade war with China: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Sunday said the exemptions for electronics are only a temporary reprieve. Those products will face separate levies, according to Lutnick.

“(Electronics are) exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick told ABC News on Sunday.

In another back-and-forth, Trump said Monday he is considering a short-term tariff exemption for automakers. Trump’s 25% tariff on vehicles went into effect April 3 and tariffs on auto parts are slated to go into effect no later than May 3. Ford (F), Stellantis (STLA) and General Motors (GM) all surged more than 3% after Trump’s comments.

“I’m looking at something to help some of the car companies where they’re switching to parts that were made in Canada, Mexico and other places and they need a little bit more time,” Trump said during remarks at the White House. “They’re going to make them here, but they need a little bit more time.”

The gains in US stocks followed rallies overseas. In Europe, the benchmark STOXX 600 gained 2.7%, while Germany’s DAX rose 2.85%. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.4%. Taiwan’s benchmark index edged lower by 0.08%, an outlier amid widespread gains.

The gains in US stocks on Monday also came after new survey data from the New York Federal Reserve showed mounting pessimism among consumers about the short-term outlook for the economy. The New York Fed survey on Monday showed a sharp increase in respondents’ near-term inflation expectations, which jumped 0.5 percentage points to 3.6% — the highest reading in a year and a half.

US stocks are coming off a wild two weeks. Trump’s rollout of his so-called “reciprocal tariffs” and subsequent 90-day pause on most “reciprocal” tariffs has sent US stocks on a roller coaster.

The S&P 500 fell 9% across the first week of April, its worst week since 2020, before rallying 5.7% the second week of April, its best week since 2023. The stock market on Wednesday posted its third-biggest single-day gain in modern history after Trump announced a 90-day pause on most “reciprocal” tariffs. Despite the surge, the S&P 500 is still trading below its closing price on April 2, just before Trump initially announced the reciprocal tariffs.

“The situation remains fluid, amid continuous twists and turns in developments since the ‘Liberation Day’ announcement less than two weeks ago,” analysts at UBS said in a Monday note. “But given the 90-day pause on ‘reciprocal’ tariffs and the latest electronics tariff reprieve, we expect the recovery in tech shares to continue.”

Tariffs dampen Wall Street’s outlook for the economy

Wall Street will look to continue a rally, although uncertainty is abound. The lack of clarity about Trump’s trade policy has kept traders in the dark about how to best position their investments — and raised concerns about US economic growth.

“While any delay of tariffs is beneficial on the margin, it is not the same as their removal,” analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a Friday note. “History suggests that elevated and prolonged uncertainty that weighs on business confidence can have detrimental effects on business spending and hiring.”

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said in an earnings press release Monday that the climate is a “markedly different operating environment than earlier this year.”

“The prospect of a recession has increased with growing indications that economic activity is slowing down,” Solomon said on a call with analysts. “Our clients, including corporate CEOs and institutional investors, are concerned by the significant near-term and longer-term uncertainty that has constrained their ability to make important decisions.”

Billionaire Ray Dalio over the weekend said Trump’s tariffs have helped push the US close to a recession — or perhaps even “something worse.”

“Right now, we are at a decision-making point and very close to a recession,” the hedge fund manager told NBC News Sunday. “And I’m worried about something worse than a recession if this isn’t handled well.”

Analysts at Citi on Friday lowered their year-end target for the S&P 500 to 5,800 from 6,500, joining a group of Wall Street giants in cutting their forecasts for corporate earnings and growth this year amid an uncertain tariff environment.

“No doubt, the goldilocks sentiment in place entering this year has given way to abject uncertainty,” analysts at Citi said in a Friday note.

A major focus for investors this week will be the Treasury market, which is coming off a week so abnormally volatile that it spooked the White House and raised questions about whether US government debt is losing its status as a safe haven.

US Treasuries gained slightly on Monday and were relatively stable after broadly slumping last week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note hovered around 4.38% Monday morning, after spiking above 4.5% on Friday. Yields and bond prices trade in opposite directions.

The US dollar index, which measures the dollar’s strength against six foreign currencies, slid 0.4% on Monday and is coming off its biggest single-week decline since 2022. The dollar has broadly weakened this year amid concerns about waning investor confidence in the United States.

US oil on Monday settled 3 cents higher at $61.53 a barrel. Brent crude, the global benchmark, settled 12 cents higher at $64.88 a barrel. Oil largely held steady after OPEC in a monthly report slightly lowered its forecast for global oil demand growth this year, citing the impact of tariffs.

Meanwhile, gold was down 0.8% on Monday after surpassing a record high $3,200 a troy ounce on Friday. The yellow metal has soared more than 21% this year as investors flock to safe havens. Analysts at Goldman Sachs on Friday raised their year-end price forecast for gold to $3,700, underpinning the heightened demand for bullion amid economic uncertainty.

US stock futures fell as President Trump’s rapid trade policy shifts kept investors on edge ahead of the next batch of corporate earnings.

Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) and the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) slumped 0.1%. Futures attached to the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (NQ=F) fell 0.2%.

On Monday, US stocks rose on the heels of a remarkably volatile week for markets following news the Trump administration would treat tariffs on key electronics separately from duties on specific countries and would impose them at a later date. The president also floated possible tariff exemptions for car companies, sending auto stocks soaring.

But any clarity emerging on Trump’s trade continued to remain elusive as the president simultaneously pushed forward with plans to place tariffs on pharmaceutical and semiconductor imports.

On Tuesday, in addition to staying vigilant on the trade front, investors will be watching corporate earnings. Bank of America (BAC), Citi (C), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and PNC (PNC) are set to report their results before the bell.

Traders will remain vigilant for any early signs of how tariff turmoil might affect companies’ bottom lines as well as what — if any — guidance they can provide for future quarters.

SYDNEY, April 14 (Reuters) – Wall Street share futures rallied in Asia on Monday after the White House exempted smartphones and computers from “reciprocal” U.S. tariffs, though gains were limited as President Donald Trump warned levies were still likely at some point. Indeed, Trump on Sunday told reporters tariffs on semiconductors would be announced over the next week and a decision on phones made “soon”. On the face of it, the exemption of 20 product types accounting for 23% of U.S. imports from China, was a boon to manufacturers. However, the off-again, on-again policy gyrations left investors confused and analysts bearish on the long run. “The post-Liberation Day back-pedalling has led some to breathe a sigh of relief. Not us,” said Bruce Kasman, head of economics at JPMorgan. “A 10% universal tax is still a very large shock and the huge 145% tax on China is prohibitive,” he added. “You cannot stop trade between the world’s two largest economies and not expect damage everywhere. We maintain our call for a 60% likelihood of a U.S./global recession.” After an initial jump, S&P 500 futures pared gains to be up 0.8%, while Nasdaq futures rose 1.2%. The S&P 500 rallied 5.7% last week, but was still more than 5% below where it was before the reciprocal tariffs were first announced in early April. EUROSTOXX 50 futures firmed 2.6%, while FTSE futures added 1.8% and DAX futures 2.2%. The market also has more earnings to weather this week with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup among the big banks reporting. Numbers from chipmaker TSMC <2330.TW> will be a highlight given Trump’s plan to investigate the entire global semiconductor supply chain. Data out this week includes U.S. retail sales and Chinese gross domestic product, while Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks on the economic outlook on Wednesday, when he will almost certainly be quizzed on the prospect of rate cuts and the recent stress in the Treasury market. Early on Monday, there was scant sign of any recovery in bonds with 10-year yields at 4.48% , having seen the largest weekly rise in borrowing costs in decades.

NOT SO SAFE

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab rose 1.6%, having shed more than 4% last week. Chinese blue chips (.CSI300), opens new tab gained 0.5%, with suppliers of Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab gear doing well. Japan’s Nikkei added 1.6% (.N225), opens new tab, after fluctuating wildly in recent days in response to the changing tariff news. Japanese officials are gearing up for trade negotiations with the United States that will likely touch on currency policy, with some officials privately bracing for Washington to call on Tokyo to prop up the yen. They might not need to work too hard given the dollar had taken a beating from worries the erratic nature of Trump’s trade policy was shaking investor faith in U.S. assets. “The key questions are around the indirect damage done through generating extreme uncertainty around the policy and economic outlook, the ongoing dislocations in the Treasury market and, ultimately, undermining confidence in U.S. institutions and asset markets,” said Jonas Goltermann, deputy chief markets economist at Capital Economics. “It is no longer hyperbole to say that the dollar’s reserve status and broader dominant role is at least somewhat in question, even if the inertia and network effects that have kept the dollar on top for decades are not going away any time soon.” The dollar was under pressure at 142.80 yen after hitting a six-month low at 142.05 last week. It was pinned at 0.8169 Swiss francs , having shed more than 5% last week to the lowest in a decade. The euro was up at $1.1384 , just short of a three-year top of $1.1474. The European Central Bank meets on Thursday and is considered certain to cut rates by a quarter point to 2.25%. Canada’s central bank also meets this week, and markets imply around a one-in-three chance it might trim its 2.75% rates. In commodity markets, global uncertainty was proving a windfall to gold prices which surged to all-time peaks at $3,245 an ounce on Monday. Oil has had a much tougher time amid fears of a global economic slowdown and increased supply from OPEC, though it found some support from the risk of an end to Iran’s exports. Brent was down 17 cents at $64.59 a barrel, while U.S. crude eased 15 cents to $61.35 per barrel.

While the stock market crash sent baby boomers into panic mode, Gen Z was grabbing the popcorn and sharing their plans to get rich. “Forget about the Sephora sale… the entire stock market is on sale right now,” one excited 24-year-old shared on TikTok. Meanwhile, a 22-year-old shared how she made $42K in less than an hour thanks to the volatile market. The world’s stock markets tanked late last week in response to President Donald Trump’s new tariffs—and baby boomers watched in horror as their dreams of a comfortable retirement briefly went up in flames. Although their Hail Mary’s were answered yesterday, with a 90-day pause on select tariffs, in Trump’s own words, “Nothing’s over yet.” And Gen Z is here for the ride. In fact, TikTok was rife with young people sharing excitement over their losses and what the market volatility could mean for their long-term wealth. “The entire stock market is on sale right now,” the 24-year-old content creator from New York @pipercassidyphillips posted to her channel. “Forget about the Sephora sale, which is going on right now. The whole stock market yesterday had the biggest single day crash since 2020, which means this is a good time to buy because things are literally on sale. They are cheaper.” “So this is just your general PSA that if you’ve been sitting on some money that you want to invest, this is the time—I’m doing it,” Piper Phillips said, adding that she consulted ChatGPT for financial advice before investing cash towards her retirement. “So I will be hitting up the Sephora sale, but I’m going to be prioritizing the stock market sale first.”

Gen Z has time on their side—and they know it

Unlike those in their 60s and 70s who are planning on retiring soon, Gen Zers can withstand the current volatility—and they know it. Take 24-year-old Mia McGrath for example. Despite having lofty goals to retire by 40, she shared her nonchalant approach to the market’s ups and downs. “The market is in a bit of a downturn right now, and people are panicking,” she posted in a recent TikTok video. “People’s reaction in a situation like this is to sell, sell, sell, but you have to buy low and sell high. That’s just the way the stock market works.” Although her stocks were down £5,000 (about ¢6,500) at the end of last week, the London-based account manager wasn’t worried. “The market has a 100% recovery rate,” she added. “So yes, there have been instances where it hasn’t fully recovered from a crash for 15 years, but that’s why I always say that investing is for the long term. You have to have the next few decades in mind.” Ryan King, another British financial content creator, shared on his social media channels that he’s “lost £12,959 in 2025.” “But I’m not worried,” he posted on @makingmoneysimple. “The money that I’ve lost is only lost ‘on paper.’ You don’t lose any money until you lock in your losses and actually sell” “I don’t need this money for the long term. So I have time for the market to recover,” the 27-year-old added. “This is a good thing. I can now invest at lower prices each month—into the same funds that I was already investing into—as they are now ‘on sale’ and cost less.” Even with the aim of quitting work and living off their investment portfolio decades earlier than the conventional retirement age range of 65 to 70, Gen Z still has over 20 years to wait for the market to recover. If anything, they reckon buying into the dip, will accelerate their financial goals and help them retire earlier. “This is absolutely insane. This hasn’t even happened since COVID,” a 21-year-old American investing influencer who goes by Elap shared on TikTok that he was “down another $1,783 in one day” and “down more than 10% in two days because of Trump’s Liberation Day.” “If you’re young, this is the biggest opportunity.” In another video, he shared that stock market crashes “can make you rich”—especially if you’re under 25: “2025 stock market crashing is your biggest generational opportunity.”

Trust the process: Some Gen Zers are already seeing huge gains

Since Trump’s tariff pause sent stocks soaring, Gen Z investors have been smugly sharing their huge financial gains. King even shared screenshots of his various Vanguard funds, which are all now back in the green.

https://www.tiktok.com/@makingmoneysimple/video/7491651519691967766

Elap echoed that he made over $2,000 in just 15 minutes—in comparison, most people his age would need to work for nearly three weeks to earn that. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—if you guys weren’t listening to me the past week, saying ‘this is the time you need to be getting into the market.’ This is just proof,” he posted. “This just goes to show how you need to stay investing long term and on downturns, you need to be putting even more money into the market, which is what I’m doing, and now I am up even more than I even lost,” he added. “Last Thursday, Friday, and this Monday, I put in tons more money than usual and now I’m reaping the rewards.” Of course, the Gen Zers who invested more in the dip saw even bigger gains. One 22-year-old made nearly $42,000 in less than an hour. Two days later, Sierra Aaliyah shared that she had made another $39,000 with screenshots of her ballooning portfolio.

https://www.tiktok.com/@sierraxliyah/video/7491377735516933407?lang=en

“The stock market right now is insane,” she added. “In my four years of trading, I’ve never seen volatility like this… Never in my four years of trading have I been able to make this much money. This is crazy.” Although she made the bulk of her money day trading, she gave lots of advice for Gen Zers looking to build long-term wealth. “I personally have been buying VOO (Vanguard S&P 500), VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF), Nvidia, AMD shares since the market’s been dropping,” the Gen Zer said, while adding that Robin Hood is a good app to get started on investing in shares. “Every single time the market drops, it recovers. So whether it takes three months, six months, eight months, make sure you know in your mind, oh my gosh, if I’m down on my investment, it’s going to come back up—that is long-term investing.” “This is not something where you put your money in, and you’re like, in an hour, I made $41k. This is, you put your money in there, you sit, you let it grow over time.” This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

US stocks turned higher on Friday to cap a chaotic week on Wall Street, as investors weighed the latest tariff-related developments in the trade war between the US and China. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 1.8% after seesawing earlier in the session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed 2.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) advanced 1.5%, about 600 points. Trump’s fast-moving tariff policy has whiplashed stocks this week with historic gains during Wednesday’s session but sharp losses on Thursday. In the end, the S&P 500 and Dow had their best weeks since 2023, while the Nasdaq’s 7% weekly gain was its best since 2022. Friday’s session caps a chaotic week on Wall Street, with an increased focus on waning appetite for US assets. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) climbed to its highest level since February, closing around 4.5%. Meanwhile, the dollar (DX=F) index tumbled below the 100 threshold, while gold (GC=F) hit a fresh record. Consumer sentiment tumbled to its lowest level since 2022 in April as the impacts of President Trump’s tariff policies remained top of mind, with consumers expecting inflation to surge in the year ahead. China said Friday it will raise duties on imports of US goods to 125%, compared with the 84% previously planned, effective Saturday. The move is in direct response to Trump’s ballooning “reciprocal” tariffs on China, the commerce ministry said, but it also suggested it will “ignore” any retaliatory US hikes in duties. Big Wall Street banks got first quarter earnings season going in earnest on Friday, with results rolling in from JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), and BlackRock (BLK). JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said the US economy is going through “extreme turbulence.”

TOKYO, April 11 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei share average slumped on Friday in a brutal end to a volatile week as investors worried about the economic fallout from the rapidly escalating U.S.-China trade war as well as a strong yen that has been lifted by safe-haven flows. The Nikkei (.N225), opens new tab ended 2.96% lower at 33,585.58 after declining as much as 5% earlier in the session. The broader Topix (.TOPX), opens new tab closed down 2.85% at 2,466.91. “Risk in equities is too high right now with such huge volatilities every day. The best thing to do, I would say, is to stay away from the market,” said Yusuke Sakai, a senior trader at T&D Asset Management. The Nikkei started the week sliding to an 18-month low on Monday but then surged 6% on Tuesday before slipping again on Wednesday. On Thursday it soared 9%, its biggest one-day gain since August. The Nikkei lost 0.6% for the week. The sudden moves underscore investor restlessness as they try to gauge the risks from a raft of tit-for-tat tariff headlines. “Equities rise as long as companies grow, but I am afraid that the companies may not be able to disclose their outlook, and even if they do, it could be conservative. That may push the Nikkei to a new low,” said Sakai. Japanese companies will start announcing their outlook for this fiscal year from the end of this month. The dollar slumped 1% to its lowest level since September 30 against the yen, as investors ditched U.S. assets amid growth concerns. A stronger Japanese currency tends to hurt shares of exporters, as it decreases the value of overseas profits in yen terms when firms repatriate them to Japan. Uniqlo-brand owner Fast Retailing (9983.T), opens new tab lost 2.04% and chip-testing equipment maker Advantest (6857.T), opens new tab slipped 4.59%. Of the 225 Nikkei components, 22 stocks rose and 203 fell.

Wall Street has been whipsawed for more than a week by President Trump’s every word about tariffs. Now he’s facing accusations of using his power to deliberately manipulate the markets. The scrutiny started with a tale of two social media posts. On Wednesday, shortly after the U.S. stock market opened, Trump posted on his Truth Social network in all caps: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” Less than four hours after his post, Trump said on Truth Social that he would pause the harshest of his tariffs on most countries. Stocks immediately skyrocketed in relief, with the Dow closing up almost 3,000 points — meaning that any investors who had followed Trump’s advice in the morning and bought into the stock market right away would have made quite a bit of money by the end of the day. Prior to his post, share prices had been plummeting for days, as fears mounted about the economic damage Trump’s new trade policies could cause. Powerful investors and billionaire business leaders had increasingly gone public airing their worries about the new tariffs and the resulting financial panic. By Wednesday afternoon, Trump seemed to hear them when he hit pause. Now some Democratic lawmakers and government ethics experts are calling for investigations into whether Trump was attempting to deliberately manipulate the markets, or to enable others to trade on insider information. Sens. Adam Schiff, Democrat from California, and Ruben Gallego, Democrat from Arizona, sent a letter to the White House on Wednesday requesting “an urgent inquiry into whether President Trump, his family, or other members of the administration engaged in insider trading or other illegal financial transactions, informed by advanced knowledge” of his tariff policy changes. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democrat from Massachusetts, also called for an investigation, asking on the floor of Congress if this was “corruption in plain sight.” White House spokesperson Kush Desai accused Democrats of “playing partisan games” and tells NPR that Trump’s early-morning post was merely meant to calm investors’ fears. “”It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security,” he wrote in an emailed statement.

George W. Bush’s former chief ethics lawyer says such statements would have led to firing

But the criticisms of Trump’s two Truth Social posts aren’t just limited to his partisan opponents. “We can’t have senior public officials — including the president — talking about stock prices and where to buy or to sell at the same time as they are making and announcing decisions that have a dramatic impact on stock prices,” says Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, who previously served as the chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush. If anyone in the Bush administration had made similar public statements urging people to buy or sell stocks, Painter added, “that person probably would [have been] fired.” Painter did not accuse President Trump of market manipulation: “We don’t have clear evidence of that here,” he tells NPR. But he pointed out that the president already has a track record of pushing the boundaries, at the very least. “Financial conflicts of interests for President Trump have been a concern since he was first elected in 2016,” Painter says, adding that the problems today are even greater. Trump’s embrace of the crypto industry, for example, has drawn ongoing scrutiny: The president, who has a growing personal portfolio of cryptocurrency-related businesses, has appointed pro-crypto Cabinet officials and promised the industry much friendlier regulation.

It’s up to the SEC to investigate accusations of insider trading

Despite the wide-ranging calls for investigations into Trump’s social media posts on Wednesday, Painter and others aren’t expecting to see much happen. The Republican lawmakers who control both the House and Senate have shown little interest in picking fights with Trump. Nor do ethics experts expect much movement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which investigates accusations of insider trading. On Wednesday, the Senate voted to confirm Trump nominee Paul Atkins to lead the SEC. And Trump in February signed an executive order claiming more power over independent regulatory agencies, including the SEC. An SEC spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.

President Donald Trump and his advisers said this was the plan all along: Scare the bejesus out of the world by announcing astronomically high tariffs, get countries to come to the negotiating table, and — with the exception of China — back away from the most punishing trade barriers as America works out new trade agreements around the globe. But Trump’s 90-day pause on his “reciprocal” tariffs that were never actually reciprocal gives his administration just three months to strike enormously complex trade deals with dozens of countries that it says are lining up to negotiate. Financial markets aren’t buying it. Stocks have whipsawed as volatility has spiked. And other markets, including oil, bonds and the dollar, are sending a clear message of deep skepticism that Trump will be able to pull this one off.

Stocks

Following another steep sell-off Thursday, stocks appeared calmer — for now — and posted strong gains Friday. The Dow ended the day higher by 619 points, or 1.56%. The S&P 500 rose 1.81% and the Nasdaq was 2.06% higher. Markets were buoyed by Boston Federal Reserve President Susan Collins telling the Financial Times Friday that the central bank would step in to support financial markets if there were signs of distress. But stock market investors have been trading on a knife’s edge, and any announcement coming from the Trump administration on tariffs has the ability to send stocks surging or tumbling. For example, stocks plunged Thursday after the Trump administration clarified the math it had already used to set China’s massive 145% tariff. The street had believed the tariff was 125%. The Dow sank sharply, at one point falling more than 2,000 points. In the 129-year history of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the index has closed higher or lower by at least 1,000 points just 31 times. Four of those times happened in the past week. The S&P 500 fell by just over 9% across the first week of April, its biggest one-week drop since March 2020. The benchmark index gained 5.7% this week, its biggest one-week gain since 2023. Despite Wednesday’s historic gain after Trump announced his detente, stocks remain well below where they were trading before the president presented his “Liberation Day” tariff plan on April 2.

Bonds

The bond market is acting weirdly. Typically, you’d expect bond prices to rise throughout periods of turmoil. US Treasuries are historically considered to be the safest of safe assets, backed up by the full faith and credit of the US government. But bonds aren’t rising — they’re falling. That’s largely because investors have lost faith in US trade policy, and they fear America could get hurt even worse than the countries Trump’s tariff policy is targeting. As JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in his annual letter to shareholders Monday, Trump’s “America First” policy risks alienating its most important partners and the country’s special standing in the world. US Treasury yields, which trade in opposite direction to prices, briefly surged on Friday above 4.5%. They were under 4% earlier in the week. That represents a massive move for the market. Higher yields could hurt America’s economy, as a number of consumer loans are closely tied to those rates. “The upward action in rates has been rapid in historical context and has provided no comfort to investors looking for havens in turbulent markets,” analysts at Citi said in a Friday note. US Treasuries were on track for their worst week since 2019, according to Bloomberg’s US Treasury total return index, when the New York Federal Reserve had to step in and purchase Treasuries to bring down a spike in yields caused by a liquidity crunch. “Current market conditions don’t require Fed intervention at this point, but Fed officials are likely monitoring market function closely,” said Chip Hughey, managing director for fixed income at Truist Advisory Services. Dimon said Friday on an earnings call that he expects there will be a “kerfuffle” in the Treasury markets that would lead to the Federal Reserve intervening. “They’re not going to do it now … they’ll do it when they start to panic a little bit,” Dimon said.

Oil

The oil market has been trading like we’re going into a recession. Prices have tumbled over the course of the past couple of weeks as investors feared Trump’s trade policy could sap demand for travel, shipping and transportation — all of which require fuel. US oil on Friday morning fell below $60 a barrel, close to a four-year low, before recovering slightly. Brent, the global benchmark, was hovering around $63 a barrel, the lowest since April 2021, before also gaining slightly. Oil gained on Friday after US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told reporters that the US could stop Iran’s oil exports as part of Trump’s negotiations over the nation’s nuclear program, according to Reuters. US oil settled up 2.4% at $61.50 a barrel. Brent rose 2.26% to $64.76 a barrel. Yet concerns remain about the impact of tariffs on economic growth and how a potential slowdown could disrupt demand for oil. Oil prices have served as a prime recession indicator in recent years. Prices tumbled after surging above $100 a barrel for the first time as the Great Recession took hold in 2008. And prices went negative for the first time during the pandemic as a glut of oil became so severe that traders were literally paying storage facilities to take the unwanted oil off their hands.

Dollar

The dollar on Friday tumbled to its lowest level in three years. That’s the opposite of what you’d expect when tariffs are put in place. Typically, tariffs raise the value of a local currency, because it encourages residents to purchase homemade goods instead of foreign options, stretching their money further in comparison to other currencies. But currency traders have sold off the dollar, because they believe America will bear the brunt of Trump’s trade war fallout and end up comparatively weaker than before tariffs were put in place. The dollar on Friday hit its lowest level against the euro since 2022. The dollar index — which measures the dollar against a basket of currencies — fell 0.9% Friday after tanking 2% Thursday, which was its worst single-day drop since 2022. Those are massive moves in currency trading world. “Investors and central banks are selling Treasuries and dollars due to a loss of confidence and credibility in American assets,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist RSM. “Financial chaos has its cost.” Meanwhile, gold prices surged above a record high $3,200 a troy ounce on Friday. Gold is up more than 23% this year and just posted its best quarter since 1986. The yellow metal is considered a safe haven amid economic and political uncertainty.

Trade deals

Despite financial markets casting enormous doubt that the Trump administration can salvage the opportunity it created for itself to strike bilateral trade agreements with all 150 countries around the world, the Trump administration remains optimistic. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this week that more than 70 countries have asked to meet with US representatives to strike a deal that could get them out from under the thumb of Trump’s punishing tariffs. Although the administration has provided few details of which countries it is negotiating with, it said it would favor allies like South Korea and Japan first. But trade deals are incredibly complex arrangements usually negotiated over the course of years, not months. And even if Trump were to negotiate trade with all those countries over a short period — whether full deals or letters of agreement that put a framework of a deal together — China, the world’s biggest exporter, remains the elephant in the room. US tariffs on China are now at at least 145% and China on Friday retaliated with 125% tariffs of its own. That will do enormous damage to the world’s two largest economies, and both sides have said they are not eager to back down. China has consistently said it is open to negotiations, but wants to do it in a way in which it will be respected. China has ignored America’s warnings not to raise its tariffs, according to a source familiar with the discussions. In the meantime, economists have been unmoved by Trump’s sudden change in tune. Although negotiated trade agreements would undoubtedly be good news for the economy, much of the damage has already been done, Wall Street economists have argued. And punishing 10% universal tariffs remain in place, as do 25% tariffs on autos, 25% tariffs on some goods from Mexico and Canada, and 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. That’s why JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs say the likelihood of the United States and the global economies going into a recession this year are basically a coin flip. This story has been updated with additional developments and context.