A single social media post having a 15-word sentence on X (formerly Twitter) triggered massive market volatility April 7 morning in the US, adding and erasing $2.4 trillion in S&P 500 value within an hour after falsely claiming President Trump planned to pause his controversial tariff program.
The wild swing highlighted the market’s extreme sensitivity to tariff news and demonstrated how quickly misinformation can ripple through financial systems in the digital age.
Shortly after 10:10 a.m. ET, the popular Walter Bloomberg account, which has nearly 1 million followers, posted: “HASSETT: TRUMP IS CONSIDERING A 90-DAY PAUSE IN TARIFFS FOR ALL COUNTRIES EXCEPT CHINA.” The post appeared to reference Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council.
US market went up and then crashed back down
The market’s reaction was immediate and dramatic. The S&P 500, which had been down 4.7%, surged to a 3.4% gain in just minutes – an extraordinary 8.1% swing.
The headline gained credibility when CNBC broadcast it on air around 10:15 a.m., though an anchor cautioned, “We’ll try and source that, exactly where that came from.” Reuters subsequently pushed the news to its wire service at 10:20 a.m., attributing it to CNBC.
The S&P 500 added $2.4 trillion in market value in the ten minutes from 10:08 to 10:18 a.m.,” according to Dow Jones Market Data. By 10:41 a.m., after the White House denied any such pause, markets crashed back down, erasing $2.5 trillion in value in roughly 23 minutes.
The Walter Bloomberg account, despite its name, has no connection to Bloomberg News. It typically posts trading-related news by sharing headlines from the Bloomberg Terminal, an expensive subscription service used by financial professionals.
“As we were chasing the news of the market moves in real-time, we aired unconfirmed information in a banner. Our reporters quickly made a correction on air,” a CNBC spokeswoman told TechCrunch.
Tracing the Source
When questioned about the source, Walter Bloomberg claimed the information came from Reuters. The account broke from “its typical robotic tone with a simple ‘wtf,'” according to TechCrunch, after learning the information was false.
The White House rapid response team quickly denied the report, sharing a clip from Fox News where Hassett had actually said: “I think the president is going to decide what the president is going to decide.”
“Reuters has withdrawn the incorrect report and regrets its error,” a Reuters spokeswoman acknowledged to TechCrunch after initially blaming CNBC for the incorrect information.
