The Consumer Price Index was -0.1% for March month-over-month, for an annual rate of 2.4%, easing from February’s 2.8%. The Labor Department credits lower gas prices last month for much of the decrease; Its CPI for all items less food and energy was 2.8%. [Bureau of Labor Statistics chart]
THURSDAY 4/10/25
<<<In the left column: Contributing Pundit Jim McCraw on a successful Hands Off! rally at The Villages, Florida. [PHOTO: Jim McCraw]
In the right column: Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay on TikTok>>>
Don’t miss The Gray Area: Contributing Editor Charles Dervarics analysis of the Trump Tariffs.
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UPDATE: There doesn't have to be a morning after. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell below 40,000 points early Thursday, off 832.69 points, or nearly 2% just before 10:30 a.m. ET. The more volatile, tech-heavy NASDAQ was down more than 3%.
Turns Out Wall Street Likes Free Trade – The Dow Jones Industrial Averages ended Wednesday up 2,963 points, or +7.87%, to 40,608.45 as the tech-heavy NASDAQ finished +12.16%.
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Tariffick or Tarrifying – The Trump White House will hold international court the next 90 days as trade representatives come to Washington to negotiate tariffs downward. Meanwhile, the base tariff of 10%, tariffs of 25% on import autos and a 125% tariff on – attention, Walmart shoppers – all Chinese goods remain.
C’mon, let’s get yippy … President Trump told reporters Wednesday he suspended his reciprocal tariffs just hours after they kicked in because people were getting “yippy.” Presumably, this includes people on Wall Street, where the tariffs announced last week sent stock prices on a steep slide.
Down-Schiff … Democrats in Congress will begin investigating Trump’s Truth Social post hours ahead of his tariff-suspension announcement that it’s a good time to, essentially, get over your yips and start buying shares at bargain prices, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Wednesday (per Newsweek).
Trump’s Truth Social post read, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY! DJT.”
Schiff posted a video on X-Twitter saying, “So the question is between that tweet and Donald Trump’s announcement that he was reducing the tariffs on most other nations apart from China, the question is who knew what the president was gonna do and did people around the president trade stock knowing the incredible gyrations the market was going to see?”
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Trump Targets His Own (Ex-) Men – President Trump has issued directives to his Justice Department to investigate his first administraiton’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency chief, Christopher Krebs, and former senior Homeland Security department official Miles Taylor, Politico reports.
The directive to scrutinize Krebs reads, in part, that he “is a significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his Government authority.” The Trump White House accuses Krebs of suppressing conservative viewpoints and “covertly worked to blind the American public” about the controversy around Hunter Biden’s laptop, “falsely and baselessly denied that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen,” and “skewed the bona fide debate about COVID-19 by attempting to discredit widely shared views that ran contrary to CISA’s favored perspective.”
--TL
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WEDNESDAY 4/9/25
UPDATE: Stocks Surge on 90-Day Tariff Delay -- Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent Wednesday announced a 90-day delay on tariffs for most countries, while increasing the US tariff on China to 125%, The Associated Press reports. As of 2 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2,503 points, or +6.65%, to 40,148.36. The tech-heavy NASDAQ was up 9.6%.
They’re Called 'Reciprocal Tariffs' – And China has raised its tariffs on US imports from 34% to 84%, matching President Trump’s latest tariff on Chinese goods. Except … Trump has retaliated on the retaliation – yes, that’s a trade war – by raising tariffs on China to 104%, The Wall Street Journal reports. Beijing’s 84% tariff is to take effect Thursday.
Does it matter?... This is a sort of easy one between Trump and Xi Jingping. China doesn’t let many US imports in, with companies like Apple and General Motors having major production capabilities there. GM produces in China for Chinese consumers, for example, where its sales have fallen precipitously in the last decade as the country boosts its own, home-grown auto industry.
This will hurt … But American consumers will feel the pinch with these US and Chinese tariffs hitting electronics, home goods and apparel hard, Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told NPR’s Morning Edition.
Semiconductor exemption … Apple and other such tech companies that source semiconductors from China are alright, for now, as Trump carved out an exemption for Chinese-sourced semiconductors last week, according to WIRED. However, three days after the initial relief from this carve-out, the White House published a list of the exemptions that does not include many types of chip-related goods.
This may help … About 70 countries have approached the White House to begin negotiations. This means Trump will get exactly what he wants from the tariffs; World leaders coming to him for these negotiations, giving him the chance to display his Art of the Deal chops.
--TL
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Negotiating Tariffs?
TUESDAY 4/8/25
UPDATE II: Poof. At the end of the day, Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent's trial balloon about negotiating downward the Trump White House's stiff tariffs did not claim back any of the value lost from the stock market slide of the past half-week. After a healthy rally Tuesday morning, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped into the red by mid-afternoon, closing at 37,645.59 points, off 320.01, or -0.84%. Meanwhile, the White House says tariffs of 104% on Chinese goods are set to take effect after midnight Tuesday.
UPDATE: Bargain-hunting or bullish, again? As of 12:15 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 875.25 points, or 2.31%, to 38,840.45. The tech-heavy NASDAQ was up 2.28%.
China’s Not Negotiating – President Trump says he will add another 50% tariff on Chinese imports if Beijing doesn’t drop plans to retaliate against extra US levies. Beijing responded thusly, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing the country’s Commerce Ministry: “If the US insists on its own way, China will fight to the end.”
But maybe Trump is … US stock futures and global equities look to claw back ground lost in the last three trading days after Trump signaled to reporters, as he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday, that he is willing to discuss lower tariffs with Japan, Israel and other countries, according to the WSJ. Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent indicated he would give Japan priority in trade talks.
Trump says he will not suspend tariffs while negotiating over them, however.
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Alien Enemies On, for Now – The Supreme Court issued a narrow procedural ruling Monday night that allows the Trump administration to continue deporting migrants under the Alien Enemies Act, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. The ruling overturns, for now, a lower court ruling that would have put a temporary stop to the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT. CBS News’ 60 Minutes reported Sunday that 179 of 238 Venezuelans flown to CECOT three weeks ago have no criminal records nor even of criminal arrests.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa