🧠 iPhone tariffs paused, 145% China tariffs remain, as trade wars make rollercoaster market moves

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🏛️ Financial News

• US Tariffs 🏛️ Trump limits tariffs on most nations for 90 days, raises taxes on Chinese imports to 125% – AP News: Beijing struck back with countermeasures, further intensifying a US-China trade war. Facing a global market meltdown, President Trump abruptly backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days even as he further jacked up the tax rate on Chinese imports.

  • Video: Trump says US is negotiating 'tailored' tariff deals with up to 70 other countries

• US Tariffs 🏛️ BREAKING: Trump exempts tariffs on phones, computers, chips – AP News: The guidance also includes exclusions for other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells, flat panel TV displays, flash drives, memory cards and solid-state drives. Trump’s reciprocal tariffs were poised to take a toll on tech companies, like Apple and Dell.

• Consumer Goods 🚗 Here’s how much a ‘Made in the USA’ iPhone would cost – Bloomberg via Yahoo! Finance: President Trump believes the US has the workforce and the resources to build iPhones. Analysts who follow the company say the idea of a US-made iPhone is impossible at worst, and highly-expensive at best, with one analysts’ estimates on labor wages alone could cost 25% more while another pegged the price at $3,500.

• China Tariffs 🐉 China hits back, hikes tariffs on US goods to 125% from 84% – Bloomberg via Yahoo! Finance: Beijing has struck back with countermeasures will come into effect Saturday, further intensifying a US-China trade war that has roiled US stocks.

• Auto Tariffs 🚗 Study finds Trump's 25% auto tariffs could cost US automakers $108 billion – Reuters via Yahoo! Finance: A new analysis by the Center for Automotive Research has found that President Trump's 25% auto tariffs will increase costs by about $108B for automakers in the U.S. in 2025.

  • Why tariffs are expected to increase car insurance costs

• Banking Analysts 🏦 BlackRock’s Larry Fink says U.S. is very close to a recession and may be in one now – Bloomberg via Yahoo! Finance: Despite his concerns about the economy, the BlackRock ceo said he did not think the US was in a financial crisis and that “megatrends” in the economy, like artificial intelligence, would persist.

• Producer Index 🏭 Wholesale prices unexpectedly fell 0.4% in March, showing easing inflation backdrop ahead of tariffs – CNBC: The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported wholesale prices unexpectedly fell in March, setting up a favorable inflation backdrop as President Trump began intensifying tariffs against US trading partners. The producer price index (PPI) is considered a leading indicator for pipeline inflation pressures, declined a seasonally adjusted 0.4% for the month, after rising 0.1% in February.

• Consumer Sentiment 🙃 Consumer sentiment sinks, approaching three-year low with inflation worries highest since 1981 – MarketWatch: Univ. of Michigan survey’s mid-month April reading on consumer confidence has grown even worse than expected, as the inflation level hits its highest since 1981.

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🌎 Global Finance News

• Europe Tariffs 🏰 EU to put countermeasures to US tariffs on hold for 90 days – euronews: The EU will pause its first tranche of retaliatory tariffs on US goods for 90 days, the president of the European Commission announced. Said Ursula von der Leyen said “We want to give negotiations a chance … If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in”.

• Europe Tariffs 🏰 Von der Leyen ready to hit big tech and services in US-EU trade war – TheRegister: The EC president has indicated that she is ready with an anti-coercion tool to pressure the US by threatening to tariff its services, where it has a trade surplus with the EU. US big tech is also in von der Leyen's sights, signaling readiness to introduce a tax on digital advertising revenues that would hit tech groups such as Meta, Google and Facebook.

• Spain Trade 💃 Spain's Pedro Sánchez aims for closer trade ties with China amid US tariffs uncertainty – euronews: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is in Beijing, his second stop on a two-country tour of Asia against a backdrop of serious geopolitical tensions.

• Vietnam Trade 🏯 Vietnam to buy US defense, security products to tackle trade gap – Reuters: Vietnam’s prime minister Pham Minh Chinh has asked for a 45-day delay in the imposition of US tariffs. Hanoi will also seek faster deliveries of commercial planes that Vietnamese airlines have ordered from the US.

• Thailand Trade 🛕 Thailand will cut tariffs on US corn imports, minister says – Yahoo! Finance: Thailand’s finance minister said they will cut tariffs on imports of corn from the US, but volumes still need to be finalized. Southeast Asia was among those hit hardest hit by President Trump's trade measures, with a much larger than expected 36% tariff.

🌍 Market News

• US Markets 🚗 Dow jumps 600 points to end the week, capping one of the most volatile weeks on Wall Street ever – Bloomberg via Yahoo! Finance: Stocks climbed to end the week on comments from the White House that President Trump is “optimistic” China will seek a deal. Wall Street wrapped up a historically wild week, as the S&P 500 advanced 1.81%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.56%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.06%.

• US Treasuries 🚗 Fed’s Kashkari says rising bond yields, falling dollar show investors are moving on from the U.S. – CNBC: Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said recent market trends show investors are moving away from the US as the safest place to invest. The central bank official said that is counter to what one might normally expect. Treasury yields are rising while the US dollar has sagged against its global counterparts.

  • MarketWatch: Investors are shunning America. This wealth management giant says, actually, U.S. stocks are attractive

  • CNBC: 10-year Treasury yield tops 4.5% after surge this week that’s worrying Wall Street and the White House

  • CNBC: Here’s how China could crush the U.S. housing market

• Crude Oil 🛢️ US energy secretary says shale industry will ‘survive and thrive’ despite plunging crude prices – CNBC: Oil prices have come under pressure amid lower global demand, mounting uncertainty over tariffs, and greater supply on the market from both OPEC and non-OPEC countries. Commodities analysts estimate that U.S. crude needs to stay above $65 per barrel to keep shale producers in business.

🌎 Global Financial News

• $JPM 🏦 JPMorgan profit beats estimates with $14.6B from record stock trading, CEO sees economic turbulence – CNBC: JPMorgan Chase ceo Jaime Dimon expects estimates for corporate earnings to fall amid the uncertainty created by President Trump’s trade negotiations. “Analysts have generally reduced their S&P estimate earnings by 5%. I think you’ll see that come down some more.”

• $WMC 🏦 Wells Fargo reports better-than-expected Q1 earnings while seeking greater fee-based traction – PYMNTS: As economic ambiguity reigns, Wells Fargo ceo Charlie Scharf struck a cautiously optimistic tone, outlining progress on fee diversification, credit quality and operational efficiency.

• $WMT 🚗 Walmart pulls full-year guidance, insists it will gain share – FreightWaves via Yahoo! Finance: The world’s largest retailer announced that it is withdrawing its earnings and revenue guidance for the current fiscal year, citing uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration’s newly imposed tariffs on Chinese imports.

• $ULCC 🛫 Frontier Airlines cuts flights after travel demand fell in March – CNBC: Frontier Airlines cut its first-quarter outlook and pulled its full-year forecast, citing a drop in demand and economic uncertainty. The airline plans to reduce its capacity to match weaker-than-expected demand. Frontier follows Delta Air Lines in cutting its capacity plans and pulling full-year guidance.

• $DLTA 🛫 Delta Withdraws Full-Year Guidance on Trade Uncertainty – Bloomberg via Yahoo! Finance: Delta Air Lines Inc. withdrew its full-year financial guidance due to uncertainty surrounding global trade as it reported first-quarter results. While Delta still anticipates a profit in 2025, it declined to reaffirm the forecast issued in January.

• $STZ 🍺 Constellation Brands ceo says Trump’s immigration policy weighing on beer sales from Hispanic consumers – Bloomberg via Yahoo! Finance: Consumers in the Hispanic community are concerned about inflation and immigration issues, cutting back on spending, social gatherings, Constellation Brands’ ceo says. Additionally, tariffs on aluminum are putting additional pressure on the Modelo owner.

• $ACC 💼 The Pentagon says it's ending $5.1B worth of IT and consulting contracts with firms including Accenture and Deloitte – Insider via Yahoo! Finance: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered cuts at the Pentagon – including some consulting contracts with Accenture and Deloitte – that would save about $4B at the DOD.

💱 Crypto Currencies

• $BTC 💳 Bitcoin jumps 4% and holds $82k, as USD falls to 3-year low and PPI inflation data fuels optimism – The Block: Bitcoin reversed some losses on the news, but analysts advised market vigilance due to tariff and economic policy uncertainty, as developing bull market signals could continue to boost Bitcoin prices despite the tense atmosphere of the US trade war.

• Regulations 🏛️ Trump signs resolution killing IRS DeFi broker rule  – Cointelegraph: Ohio Representative Mike Carey said the resolution to kill the IRS rule also marks the first time a crypto bill has ever been signed into law.

🏖️ Personal Finance

• Consumer Staples 🛒73% of Americans expect consumer goods prices to surge under Trump tariffs – CNBC: A new Reuters/Ipsos poll found most respondents said they thought prices in the next six months would increase for the items they buy every day after the new taxes on almost all imports took effect.

• Social Security 🏛️  SSA’s cost-of-living adjustment projected to be lower in 2026, estimates find. But tariffs may change that – CNBC: Social Security beneficiaries saw a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment in 2025. According to early estimates based on the latest government inflation data, the COLA adjustment for 2026 may not be as large.

• College Savings 🏫 What college savers need to know about their 529 accounts as market roils – CNBC: Families saving for their children’s 529 college education savings plan may be on edge amid the recent market volatility. “A 5 year-old has a long time horizon, whereas someone entering [college] this fall should not have that much at risk,” said Barry Glassman, a certified financial planner and the founder and president of Glassman Wealth Services.

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We’ll be back next Saturday morning to recap the week’s financial news.

Thanks to Empower Personal Wealth for sponsoring.

✨ Happy Unprompting,

Rawee
[email protected]

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