Rapturous applause and a sea of phones in the air greeted President Trump as he walked on stage and declared, \u201cThe golden age of America has officially begun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was barely a month into office when the Saudi-backed investor conference in Miami captured the optimism. \u201cThe Nasdaq is up nearly 10% in just a few months,\u201d Trump said, ticking through a list of economic indicators. \u201cThe Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 2,200 points.\u201d On the same day, Feb. 19, the S&P 500 hit an all-time high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as Trump unleashed an on-one-day, off-the-next tariff fight with America\u2019s largest trading partners, those gains unraveled. In just a few weeks, the S&P lost $4 trillion in value driven by his whipsaw trade policy, receding optimism about an artificial-intelligence boom and souring consumer sentiment<\/a> caused by threats of higher prices and weaker growth. A measure of consumer sentiment fell in March for the fourth straight month<\/a> to the lowest level since January 2021, the Conference Board, a business-research group, said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Markets in the past week have recovered some losses, but Trump is preparing his next shock: an April 2 \u201cliberation day\u201d suite of reciprocal tariffs he said will be applied on any trading partner that charges tariffs or imposes other trade barriers on U.S. products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> Required reading from @NickTimiraos<\/a>
It's not just uncertainty. It's uncertainty paired with powerlessness. Business leaders now feel vulnerable.https:\/\/t.co\/mUnpNDYA3V<\/a><\/p>— Peter Atwater (@Peter_Atwater) March 26, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>