US Market Briefly Rallies Following Reports by CNBC, Reuters of a Tariff Pause

The White House said the reports that Trump is thinking about a 90-day pause were ‘fake news.’

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington on Sept. 10, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

U.S. stocks briefly soared during the April 7 trading session, following reports by CNBC and Reuters that U.S. tariffs might be paused, which the White House has denied.

The two media outlets reported that Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said President Donald Trump was considering a 90-day tariff pause.

In a statement, the business news network said it aired “unconfirmed information” in its on-screen chyron.

“As we were chasing the news of the market moves in real time, we aired unconfirmed information in a banner. Our reporters quickly made a correction on air,” a CNBC spokesperson said.

Reuters also published two reports about Hassett’s comments. The newswire did not credit CNBC in the first version and later withdrew the report. The second article attributed the White House official’s remarks to the network.

Other publications and various large social media accounts shared the reporting.

The White House said the reports that Trump is thinking about a 90-day pause were “fake news.”

Still, Wall Street appeared to react to the unfounded claim as algorithmic software sent stocks rocketing, reversing the sharp selloff earlier in the session within minutes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index of blue-chip stocks, experienced a more than 2,000-point reversal between 9:43 a.m. and 10:17 a.m. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index also spiked about 1,200 points from the morning low on the news.

U.S. stocks tanked again after the White House dismissed the reporting and CNBC confirmed the reporting was inaccurate.

According to The Kobeissi Letter, a popular financial newsletter, the S&P 500 registered a $6 trillion swing in market cap in a half-hour span on a tariff headline.

“We just witnessed the largest 30-minute swing in market cap in history,” the account said.

While neither CNBC nor Reuters noted where Hassett’s comments originated, market analysts point to a “Fox & Friends” interview earlier in the day.

“Yeah, you know, I think that the president is going to decide what the President is going to decide,” Hassett said when asked if the Trump administration was considering a 90-day pause.

“But I would urge everyone, especially Bill [Ackman], to ease off the rhetoric a little bit. It’s the idea that it’s going to be a ‘nuclear winter’ or something like that is completely irresponsible rhetoric.”

Billionaire investor Ackman recently warned of an “economic nuclear winter” without a tariff pause.

“May cooler heads prevail,” Ackman wrote in a post on social media platform X.

This is not the first time substantial disruptions in the broader markets have occurred following inaccurate media reporting.

In April 2013, a hacked Associated Press Twitter account falsely reported explosions at the White House, causing the Dow Jones to endure a triple-digit nosedive before recovering most of its losses.

Bloomberg Terminals—advanced computer systems that provide investment professionals with real-time market data, news, and analytics—suffered widespread failures in April 2015. The systems delivered false information, sending the Dow Jones plunging more than 1,000 points in 10 minutes.

Reuters contributed to this reporting.