A fake tariff headline sent US stocks on a $2+ trillion ride

US markets fell victim to the world’s biggest game of telephone yesterday, when a wild stock swing based on false tariff information added trillions in value—then erased it almost as quickly.

How things went down

• ~10:10 AM ET: News began circulating on social media that Kevin Hassett, President Trump’s top financial adviser, said Trump was “considering a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except China.” The exact origin of the report remains unclear.
• 10:14 AM: The (fake) news of a possible tariff pause was picked up by CNBC’s TV channel, where anchors noted the source was unconfirmed.
• 10:18 AM: CNBC ran a news chyron at the bottom of the screen with no attribution that indicated Trump was considering a 90-day tariff pause (☝️).
• 10:20 AM: Reuters sent the same news over its wires, attributing it to CNBC.
• 10:26 AM: CNBC reversed course and confirmed on-air that its report of a possible 90-day tariff pause was incorrect after talking to White House officials.

The markets went on a wild ride, too. The S&P 500 added $2.4 trillion in market value between 10:08–10:18 am ET, according to Dow Jones Market Data. By 10:41 am, that entire amount had been wiped out.

A possible mixup? Kevin Hassett did give a Fox News interview Monday morning in which he was asked about pausing tariffs, and his answer started with the word “yeah”—but he was just acknowledging the question, and didn’t go on to say or even imply that Trump was considering a pause.

In other tariff news: Trump yesterday threatened to impose additional 50% tariffs on China should Beijing not drop a set of retaliatory tariffs and export controls on the US, but left the door open for talks to lower tariffs on other countries.