An erroneous report suggested by CNBC that the Trump administration was mulling a 90-day pause on tariffs caused significant fluctuations in US equity markets on Monday morning. Within moments, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) lost nearly $10, erasing around $2 trillion in value from the overall index.
This news reportedly started on Twitter/X and was subsequently included in CNBC’s headline feed without proper verification. The story was then picked up by Reuters, further amplifying the situation.
Bitcoin surged from $77,500 to $80,800 shortly after the announcement of a possible tariff pause. However, once the rumor was clarified, it fell back to around $78,000.
The SPY initially rallied, climbing above $520 shortly after the market opened, but then plummeted below $495 as key indices retraced.
This decline followed a brief uptick prompted by an unverified social media rumor suggesting that President Donald Trump was thinking about temporarily halting tariffs. Multiple news reports quickly circulated the assertion, triggering a wave of algorithm-driven trading and speculative moves.
The White House reacted to the volatility by denouncing the headlines as “fake news,” confirming to CNBC that no such policy discussion had occurred.
Meanwhile, Nasdaq futures experienced a double-digit percentage shift during this incident, which analysts characterized as a possible flash event driven by headline trading. This sharp response underscores the current market’s heightened sensitivity to policy-related developments.
With less than an hour of trading completed, the S&P 500’s unexpected $2 trillion shift might just be the beginning of the volatility expected this week.