Desperate for some relief from the relentless three-day stock rout , investors sparked a momentary rally Monday apparently based on what turned out to be fake news.
The S&P 500 rallied 8.5% in 34 minutes midmorning, briefly adding $3.6 trillion in market value.
That was after it fell as much as 4.7% and officially entered bear market territory at the opening bell. At its intraday peak, the S&P 500 was up 3.4% for the day.
The stock market's whiplash on Monday indicates just how desperately investors are seeking a change in direction from the Trump administration.
And the mixed messaging from the White House isn't necessarily helping.
When asked in the Oval Office on Monday if the administration is using tariffs as a negotiating tactic or if they're permanent, Trump said, "Both can be true."
"There can be permanent tariffs and there can also be negotiations," he said.
Trump also said that he was considering an additional 50% tariff against China in reaction to that country's retaliatory tariffs announced on Friday.
For all the volatility, the stock market finished the day about flat.
Here's where indexes stood at the 4 p.m. market close on Monday:
Here's how today's trading action went down.
The abrupt morning rally appears to have been sparked by talk of a 90-day delay to the tariffs to allow for negotiations.
Investors and companies have been desperately seeking relief from the president's trade war. Market pros say if his tariffs are enacted, they could usher in a new global trading order of uncertainty and protectionism.
Talk of a 90-day delay to the tariffs started circulating on Wall Street Monday morning, preceding the massive rally on Wall Street.
The source of the rumor appears to be a popular financial account on X that rapidly shares finance-related headlines.
The @DeItaone account, named *Walter Bloomberg, shared a now deleted post at 10:13 a.m. ET that said: "HASSETT: TRUMP IS CONSIDERING A 90-DAY PAUSE IN TARIFFS FOR ALL COUNTRIES EXCEPT CHINA."
The post referenced a Fox News interview from earlier in the day with Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council.
Hassett was asked whether the president would consider a 90-day pause on tariffs so countries would have more time to negotiate, as advocated by the billionaire investor Bill Ackman and former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein.
"I think the president is going to decide what the president is going to decide," Hassett responded.
The White House later told CNBC that a 90-day tariff pause was "fake news." Stocks quickly gave up their sharp gains after the report of a delay was shot down.
Investors did still hold on to some hope of trade deals heating up after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post to X that Trump instructed him to open up negotiations with Japan.
Read the original article on Business Insider