How actual ‘fake news’ caused a market whiplash

An errant post on X may have just shaken the stock market, showing how influential — and irresponsible — the social media platform can be.

An errant post on X may have just shaken the stock market, showing how influential — and unreliable — the social media platform can be. Unsourced “headlines” about a potential “90-day pause in tariffs” sent markets into a state of turbulence Monday morning as investors sought any indication of a reprieve from the Trump administration’s new levies. The problem: It wasn’t true. The White House swiftly denied the rumor shortly after it began to circulate online. The false posts may have originated from a real Fox News interview with National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett at around 8:30 a.m. ET. Hassett was asked whether President Donald Trump would “consider a 90-day pause in tariffs,” and he replied in part: “The president is (going to) decide what the president is (going to) decide.” According to CNN’s analysis, the first X post to claim Hassett said Trump would consider a 90-day pause in tariffs came at 10:11 a.m. ET from an account called “Hammer Capital” with the handle “yourfavorito,” which has barely 1,000 followers. At about 10:12 a.m., CNN’s Vanessa Yurkevich, who was on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, said that cheers had broken out, as stock indices — which were already recovering from early-morning lows — suddenly surged. “Walter Bloomberg,” an account with a much larger following that uses the handle “DeItaone” copy-and-pasted the original rumor along with a siren emoji at 10:13 a.m.