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- 🗞 Trump Escalates Trade War
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Market Moves Yesterday
S&P 500 @ 5,670.97 ( ⬆️ 0.67%)
Nasdaq Composite @ 17,601.05 ( ⬆️ 0.87%)
Bitcoin @ $83,310.16 ( ⬇️ 0.16%)
Hey Scoopers,
Happy Thursday! Here’s what we’re covering today:
👉 Wall Street is wary of Trump’s tariffs
👉 Tesla continues to disappoint
👉 Amazon bids for TikTok U.S.
So, let’s go 🚀
Market Wrap
U.S. stock futures plummeted after President Donald Trump announced extensive tariffs starting at 10% on all countries, with higher rates for specific nations, triggering fears of a global trade war.
Dow futures dropped 828 points (1.95%), S&P 500 futures fell 2.68%, and Nasdaq-100 futures tumbled 3.19%.
Multinational companies took heavy hits in extended trading. Nike and Apple both declined around 7%, while retailers of imported goods suffered severely – Five Below lost 14%, Dollar Tree fell 11%, and Gap dropped 8.5%.
Tech giants Nvidia and Tesla fell 5% and 7%, respectively.
The White House revealed that the baseline 10% tariff would take effect on April 5, with higher duties against countries charging steeper rates to the U.S. shortly after.
"We will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us," Trump stated during a White House press conference.
The announcement shocked traders as rates will be much higher than anticipated for many nations. China's effective tariff rate will reach 54%, combining the new reciprocal rate with existing duties.
"The level of complication on top of the ultimate level of new tariffs is worse than had been feared," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management.
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Trending Stocks 🔥
Tesla - Shares of the EV maker surged over 5% after President Donald Trump told members of his inner circle that Tesla CEO Elon Musk could leave his current role in the coming weeks.
Rivian Automotive - The stock fell more than 5% after the company reported Q1 deliveries of 8,640 vehicles, down 36% year over year. However, it was higher than estimates of 8,200 vehicles.
nCino - The cloud banking stock slumped over 20% after it posted adjusted earnings of $0.12 per share, below estimates of $0.19 per share.
Apple Leads Market Sell-Off
Apple shares are down over 7% in pre-market, leading a broad tech sell-off following President Donald Trump's announcement of new import tariffs.
The iPhone maker, which relies heavily on manufacturing in China and other Asian countries, is highly exposed to the latest trade policies.
Other tech giants also declined sharply, with Nvidia down about 4%, Tesla dropping 4.5%, and Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta falling between 2.5% and 5%. Microsoft shares slid almost 2%.
If Apple's losses hold through Thursday's regular session, it would mark the stock's steepest one-day decline since September 2020.
Trump's tariff plan, called a "declaration of economic independence," includes a baseline 10% duty on all imports plus higher rates for specific countries – 34% for China, 20% for European nations, and 24% for Japanese imports.
"We will supercharge our domestic industrial base, we will pry open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers," Trump stated during his announcement. "Ultimately, more production at home will mean stronger competition and lower prices for consumers."
The tariffs will reverse a positive start to the second quarter after the Nasdaq index reported its worst quarterly performance since 2022.
Will Amazon Acquire TikTok?
CNBC has confirmed that Amazon has made a surprise bid to purchase TikTok from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
According to a source familiar with the discussions, the e-commerce giant submitted its proposal this week in a letter addressed to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
However, officials are not taking the bid seriously, given its last-minute submission just days before the April 5 deadline, when TikTok faces a potential U.S. ban.
The deadline comes after lawmakers passed legislation requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok's American operations.
Mobile technology company AppLovin has also reportedly submitted a bid for the platform.
TikTok represents a potentially valuable acquisition target for Amazon, given the app's massive user base of over 170 million Americans and its growing e-commerce presence through TikTok Shop.
The two companies partnered last August to allow TikTok users to make Amazon purchases without leaving the app, a deal that drew scrutiny from lawmakers concerned about national security implications.
Tesla’s Vehicle Deliveries Tank 13% in Q1
Tesla reported a steep decline in vehicle deliveries for Q1 of 2025, with 336,681 vehicles delivered, representing a 13% drop from last year.
The disappointing results were well below analyst expectations of 360,000-370,000 deliveries. Tesla’s internal consensus estimate was higher at 377,590 vehicles.
The EV maker's shares rebounded over 5% despite the miss, recovering from an earlier dip following a Politico report suggesting CEO Elon Musk might leave his position at President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Tesla faced multiple challenges during the quarter, including planned factory shutdowns to prepare production lines for a redesigned Model Y and headwinds in key markets.
Its European market share collapsed to 9.3% from 17.9% a year earlier, with German sales particularly hard hit, dropping to just 4% from about 16%.
Chinese sales declined 11.5% year-over-year to 78,828 vehicles in March as competition from local manufacturers like BYD intensified.
Key figures:
Total deliveries: 336,681 (-13% YoY)
Total production: 362,615 (-16% YoY)
Model 3/Y deliveries: 323,800
Other models (including Cybertruck): 12,881
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives called the results "a disaster on every metric" and "a fork in the road moment" for Tesla.
Moreover, TSLA stock fell 36% in Q1, wiping out $460 billion in market value.
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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. The newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell assets or make financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.