Incorrect quote on social media fuelled short-lived market upturn, NBC News reports
We can bring you more now on the market upturn in the US – apparently fuelled by a social media post.
NBC, Sky’s US partner network, is reporting the below from the broadcaster’s White House team.
In just a few minutes, US markets swung wildly into positive territory and back down again.
According to the White House, it appears to be based on a social media post that erroneously claimed that Kevin Hassett, White House National Economic Council director, said Trump was considering a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except China.
Hassett was asked about it during a Fox News interview this morning but did *not* say a 90-day pause was on the table.
All he said was: “I think the president is going to decide what the president is going to decide. There are more than 50 countries in negotiation with the president.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is flatly denying the president is considering a 90-day pause.
“It’s fake news,” she told NBC.
Still, it highlights just how volatile the market is that an incorrect quote from a top Trump official could have that big of an effect.
A senior White House official also insists Trump’s team is not worried about cracks forming in Republicans’ support of tariffs.
