President Trump made a lot of promises on the campaign trail last year. Investors and business leaders enthusiastically cheered some, like lower taxes and relaxed regulation, and expressed wariness about others, like tariffs and reduced immigration. But when Mr. Trump won the election, there was little sign of that ambivalence: Stock prices soared, as did…
Meltdown The markets have spoken. The S&P 500 is on track for its worst weekly loss since the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank crisis two years ago. And investors have wiped out post-Election Day gains as President Trump’s dizzying start-stop tariff policy fuels volatility on trading floors and in boardrooms. Another test comes this…
When the White House finally released the text of Mr. Trump’s orders on Thursday evening, it appeared that some of the tariffs — those covered in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that Mr. Trump negotiated and celebrated in his first term — were indeed permanently suspended. Other tariffs were merely paused. Most everyone involved was confused,…
Even by Washington standards, the second Trump presidency has begun in frenetic fashion: mass firings at federal agencies, tariff threats against allies and foes alike, and haggling over how to get a Republican budget through a narrowly divided Congress. Business leaders and corporate investors are confident that things will turn out fine, at least for…
A prominent group of chief executives said almost six years ago that making profits for shareholders was only part of their business — and not necessarily the main part. Speaking collectively as the Business Roundtable, C.E.O.s from companies like Johnson & Johnson, FedEx, Wells Fargo and Amazon said that, really, they were devoted to serving…
Watch out for interest rates. Not the short-term rates controlled by the Federal Reserve. Barring an unforeseen financial crisis, they’re not going anywhere, especially not after the jump in inflation reported by the government on Wednesday. Instead, pay attention to the 10-year Treasury yield, which has been bouncing around since the election from about 4.8…
Daron Acemoglu, a winner of the 2024 Nobel in economic science, gave me some answers. “There is a lot of hype in the industry,” he told me in a telephone conversation. Yes, he said, A.I. companies have made some “impressive achievements,” but he added that many financial and economic calculations were being based on mere…
The relative calm in the markets may not survive upheaval in the A.I. sector and a deluge of disruptive Trump policies, our columnist says. Source link
Howard Lutnick, a wealthy donor to President Trump who has been picked to lead the Commerce Department, defended Mr. Trump’s plans to impose broad tariffs and said he would take a tough stance on technology sales to China during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday. If confirmed, Mr. Lutnick would lead on trade policy and…
Howard Lutnick, a wealthy donor who President Trump has picked to lead the Commerce Department, will face questioning about his financial holdings and potential conflicts of interest in a nomination hearing before the Senate Wednesday. Mr. Lutnick is the chief executive and chairman at Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Street brokerage, and holds executive positions at…
