Stock markets went haywire on Monday morning as rumors of an impending tariff respite caused the S&P 500 to soar over 7%, and then give up nearly all those gains as the White House pronounced the rumor to be "fake news." The episode, which began with a tweet around 10 a.m. ET, underscored both the current market skittishness as well as the peril of relying on social-media accounts.
The tweet in question came from an anonymous X account known as Walter Bloomberg (an apparent reference to the financial news service Bloomberg) that publishes a series of rapid-fire headlines. On Monday, the account tweeted that the director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, said President Donald Trump was considering a 90-day pause on all tariffs except China.
The report then spread like wildfire on social media and was briefly repeated by news outlets, including CNBC. One hour later, though, the White House issued its statement denying the report and, soon after, the Walter Bloomberg account deleted the tweet.
As markets fluctuated following the initial tweet, others on X—including a real Bloomberg journalist—began questioning the source of the news. In response, others shared another tweet from reporter Aaron Rupar that showed the Hassett news was based on a Fox News interview earlier that morning:
KILMEADE: Would Trump consider a 90 days pause in tariffs?HASSETT: I think the president is gonna decide what the president is gonna decide ... even if you think there will be some negative effect from the trade side, that's still a small share of GDP pic.twitter.com/3KymvgOwQG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 7, 2025As the tweet above shows, Hassett's comments offered little firm support for the claim that Trump was planning a 90-day tariff pause.
Meanwhile, others on social media took issue with the Walter Bloomberg account more broadly, and criticized him for failing to include a link or more detailed source to the "news":
pic.twitter.com/VQF5JCPEq0
— Neeraj K. Agrawal (@NeerajKA) April 7, 2025Most paid blue check marks cost $8 a month. We just saw one that cost people billions
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) April 7, 2025As of noon on Monday, the S&P index remained in the red, in part due to a fresh jolt in the form of a statement by President Trump that he intended to raise tariffs on China even higher.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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