CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Crater, Tariffs Ignite Trade War, Recession Fears Raised 4/3/25

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

From Wall Street to Main Street, the latest on the markets and what it means for your money. Updated regularly on weekdays, featuring CNBC expert analysis and sound from top business newsmakers. Anchored by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger.

I'm Jessica Abingur. CNBC, President Trump starting a global trade war, sending stocks into ugly freefall around the world. On Wall Street, it's an ugly loss for the major averages, but it's actually a slight recovery. The Dow is down 1,271 points. That's 3%. It had been down 1,500 points. It's being led lower by shares of Nike which are down 11%. The S&P 500 index is down 210 points. That's 3.7% now. And the Nasdaq, it has accelerated. Its losses are worse. Down 846 points. That's just under 5%.% checking shares of Nvidia. They're down 6% this afternoon.

You know, if anything, I'm surprised that the market didn't see ahead of time that the president has been telegraphing that he's going to make some very significant changes to the trade policy. Former Trump Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on CNBC. The president slapped tariffs on goods coming into the U.S. from more than 60 countries with the increased costs forecast to hit U.S. consumers hard. Everyone's going to feel the costs. Every consumer is going to see prices go up. And we're already, as you know, in a pre-inflationary stage right now.

Former U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on CNBC. The president said in a speech at the White House Rose Garden that it's time to stop America from being ripped off. He'd like to see manufacturing brought back to the U.S. Reciprocal tariffs on countries throughout the world. Reciprocal. That means they do it to us and we do it to them. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC the tariffs will spur countries to examine

their trade policies with the U.S. Stop saying that we can't sell our corn to India. Stop saying that we can't sell our beef anywhere. Just stop treating us so poorly if we are the great consumer of the earth. We buy everybody's goods. You just have to treat us fairly and that is the problem. A counter to that from CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Leesman. The other side of all that trade is massive investment in the United States. They buy our treasuries, they buy our stocks, they invest in the United States, foreign direct investment is huge. We are the great magnet for capital around the world.

And the concern of a lot of people is these tariffs will reduce that flow of capital. Former Vice President Mike Pence weighing in, condemning the tariffs as the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history. Many companies pausing their spending as they figure out what to do next and whether the tariffs are negotiating tools and might be reduced or eliminated in short order. While some investors see the stock drop as a buying opportunity, some Americans in or near retirement are worried about their nest eggs. Several things are dropping today that may benefit U.S. consumers.

Eight OPEC Plus producers accelerated their crude oil output, pushing oil prices lower, which in turn could mean lower prices at the pump for Americans. Also bond yields were lower, and that could bring down mortgage rates. Jessica Edinger, CNBC. Amid tariff uncertainty and downgrades to growth, the March jobs report numbers and analysis. Squawk Box, Friday, 830 a.m. Eastern, CNBC.