SPX: S&P 500 Wipes Out $2 Trillion as Trump Says Tariff Response Is “Going Very Well”

Trump downplayed the market crash, which dragged the broad-based index deeper into correction. Happy Liberation Day… anyone? No one?

🔥 Liberated from Those Gains

• “Happy Liberation Day!” said no one on Thursday as the only thing that was liberated was traders from their money. A total of $2 trillion disappeared from the valuation of the S&P 500. The broad index crashed 4.8% in its worst day since March 2020 when Covid pandemic shocked markets. It’s down 12% from its record high in February.
• While traders were being liberated from the gains, Donald Trump gave an interview, seemingly oblivious to the dumpster fire that had engulfed the stock market. The response to the new tariffs, the President said, was “going very well.”

🙂 The Stock Is What?

• “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom,” he told reporters as he departed the White House. “The rest of the world wants to see, is there any way they can make a deal?” he said. “You’ll see how it’s going to turn out. Our country is going to boom,” Trump added.
• As the day was turning from Liberation Day to Liquidation Day, the violent selloff didn’t spare the S&P 500’s peers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1679 points, or 4%, and clocked a 10% loss from its record.

🎯 Tech Shares Down Bad

• The Nasdaq Composite index took the biggest loss of the day, going down 6%. Technology companies got picked on the most due to their forward-looking valuation and fears that future growth just won’t be there when we get there.
• Futures contracts tied to the major stock averages were tilted to the downside. S&P 500 futures were down 0.2% as traders continued to have problems digesting the stock-battering tariff plans out of the White House.