Wall Street is turning its back on Trump and flashing an economic warning
CNN
On-again, off-again tariffs, mass government layoffs, funding cuts and immigration crackdowns have seriously spooked Wall Street, which is emphatically rejecting President Donald Trump’s chaotic economic agenda.
On-again, off-again tariffs, mass government layoffs, funding cuts and immigration crackdowns have seriously spooked Wall Street, which is emphatically rejecting President Donald Trump’s chaotic economic agenda. The market that embraced Trump for most of his first term and in the lead-up to his second has turned on the president. The S&P 500 closed in correction territory Thursday, falling 10% from the all-time high it set just three weeks ago. The Dow is approaching correction too. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell into a correction more than a week ago. And the Russell 2000, made up of smaller businesses, which are typically more exposed to shifting economic winds, has fallen a stunning 18.4% from a high hit just after the election, which was within a whisker of its all-time record. Even as stocks are set for a modest comeback Friday – the Dow is on pace to rise 200 points, or 0.6%, at the open, S&P 500 futures were 0.7% higher and Nasdaq futures were up 0.9% – sentiment on Wall Street has been overwhelmingly negative. CNN’s Fear and Greed Index has plunged into “Extreme Fear.” “The stock market is losing its confidence in the Trump 2.0 policies,” said Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research.
Last month, Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson penned a first-person piece about her long year as “the federal government whisperer,” receiving tips from hundreds of federal workers. On Wednesday, the FBI searched her home, a source familiar with the situation told CNN.
Price hikes picked up speed for US-based businesses toward the end of last year, a potential signal that inflation has yet to peak and prices could soon rise faster for consumers.
Trump is threatening to take “strong action” against Iran just after capturing the leader of Venezuela. His administration is criminally investigating the chair of the Federal Reserve and is taking a scorched-earth approach on affordability by threatening key profit drivers for banks and institutional investors.
Perhaps no data point better encapsulates the American economy right now than this nugget from Delta’s quarterly earnings:
China recorded the world’s biggest ever trade surplus in 2025, as well as a 20% jump from 2024, capping off a year in which the world’s largest manufacturer defied US trade pressure by ramping up exports to other global markets.
Saks Global, the parent company of luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue, filed for bankruptcy protection late Tuesday, according to court documents filed in US Bankruptcy Court in Houston, Texas.
China on Wednesday reported a strong export run in 2025 with a record surplus of nearly $1.2 trillion, as producers braced for three more years of a Trump administration set on slowing the production powerhouse by shifting US orders to other markets.
Microsoft says it will ask to pay higher electricity bills in areas where it’s building data centers, in an effort to prevent electricity prices for local residents from rising in those areas. The move is part of a broader plan to address rising prices and other concerns sparked by the tech industry’s massive buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure across the United States.
US consumer prices rose 2.7% annually in December, closing out a year that saw slight progress on inflation but continued affordability concerns for many Americans.
The BBC is taking steps to have Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against it dismissed, a court document showed.
Amazon executives laid out their vision for Alexa’s future in an interview with CNN at the CES tech convention, where the company launched a new Alexa website and updates to other Amazon products.
After cutting interest rates three times in a row last year, the Federal Reserve indicated last month it probably won’t lower interest rates again for a while. A months-long pause, cemented by key economic data released Friday, may indeed be the best-case scenario for the world’s largest economy.
What is Corporate America so afraid of?