WSJ What’s News - What’s News in Markets: Trump’s Tesla, Trade-War Hiccups, Low-Flying Shares

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

What a visit to the White House did for Tesla’s stock. And how American whiskey found itself at the heart of a trade war between the U.S. and Europe. Plus, why shares of Delta Air Lines and American Airlines hit turbulence while JetBlue and Southwest flew higher. Host Francesca Fontana discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Francesca Fontana for The Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News in Markets, our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's get to it. Welcome back, everybody. Hope you made it through this week in markets in one piece. What was it in a word? A doozy. Well, maybe that's two words. What was the week about in a few words? Recession fears and trade.

Recession fears were in the foreground for many companies' earnings reports. For instance, Kohl's joined the growing chorus of retailers warning of slowing household spending this year, and the stock on Tuesday plummeted 24%. Plus, on Friday, we saw that the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment fell to its lowest level since November 2022. So not great. And we'll get into the trade war stuff in a bit, but minor spoiler alert, it was Thursday,

the day the European Union got more tariff threats from Trump, that the S&P 500 closed in correction territory. In other words, it fell more than 10% from its recent high on February 19th. All in all, the three major indexes posted weekly declines, with the Dow dropping about 3% and the S&P and the NASDAQ each falling more than 2%. First up, Tesla, Elon Musk's EV maker, which got some relief from its latest rout thanks to a shoutout from previous EV hater, President Trump. In case you missed it, disappointing sales data

and concerns over Musk's role in the Trump administration have been weighing on the stock. And on Monday, shares lost 15%, its worst trading day since 2020, taking its year-to-date losses to 45%. Then, in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he was going to

buy a brand new Tesla, quote, as a show of confidence and support for Musk. Like I said, Trump has been pretty anti-electric car. He campaigned extensively against Joe Biden's EV mandates, for one, and his administration back in February halted federal funding for new charging stations. But, you know, you'd never know it, at least not by the looks of the photo op Trump held later that day on Tuesday. He joined Elon outside the White House alongside several Tesla models. The shoutout did give the stock a rebound, with shares rising almost 4% on Tuesday. But on a weekly basis, Tesla posted a loss for the eighth week in a row, this time a loss of nearly 5%.

Alright, like I promised, it is time for another trade war play-by-play. I know last week was pretty nuts. You can be the judge of how this week stacks up in comparison. Spoiler alert, it's not the global auto industry caught in the crossfire. No, at this time it is alcohol. You might recall that Trump announced back in February that on March 12th, 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum would go into effect. And that they did on Wednesday. So on Wednesday, the European Union announced retaliatory tariffs against the US. Really, hitting them where it hurts. 50% starting April 1st on imports of American

whiskey, motorcycles, and motorboats. We're going to focus on the whiskey. Then, Thursday, Trump escalates, threatening to impose 200% tariffs on all alcohol imports from the block, prompting a sell-off among European drinkmakers. Beer, wine, champagne, liquor, you name it. Now this EU levy on American whiskey, that'd be a blow to Jack Daniels maker Brown Foreman and other U.S. distillers, which are already contending with a drop in demand as American drinkers cut back on, well, drinking. And the tariff threat was a blow to brown foreman stock this week. Its shares fell 5.1% on Wednesday, and on a weekly basis, the stock was down 5.8%. Last, but not least, U.S. airlines lost some air on Tuesday, but some carriers managed

to buck the trend. Delta Airlines, American Airlines, and JetBlue lowered guidance early in the week, and we saw Delta shares fall more than 7% on Tuesday, while American shares lost more than eight. But JetBlue gained 4.2%. For one, its outlook cut was smaller than the others, and it already warned of first quarter weakness

back in January. Meanwhile, Southwest unveiled a range of moves to lift revenue, including the seismic shift of charging for checked bags. And its shares, on Tuesday, jumped about 8%. So JetBlue, Southwest, how'd the stocks fare the rest of the week? Well, JetBlue ended with a loss of more than 8%, while Southwest posted a weekly gain of more than 9%. And now you know what's news in markets this week. You can read about more stocks that moved on the week's news in the score, my column in the Wall Street Journal's Exchange section.

Today's show was produced by Zoe Kolkin and Anthony Bansi, with supervising producer Michael Kosmitis. I'm Francesca Fontana. Have a great weekend and I'll see you next Saturday!