The false tariff headline that sent stocks on a $2 trillion ride

A wild stock-market swing based on false information added $2.4 trillion in value and erased it almost as quickly Monday morning.

- Jack Pitcher & Isabella Simonetti

The episode played out in just over half an hour, all based on misleading reports that said President Trump was considering a 90-day pause to implementing tariffs.

The rally-turned-rout underscored how feverish many investors are for any information that might calm the market and how easily misinformation and Wall Street's high-frequency trading strategies that react to headlines in seconds can impact asset prices.

News that tariff-shocked investors had been dying to see began circulating on social media around 10:10 a.m. in New York: "HASSETT: TRUMP IS CONSIDERING A 90-DAY PAUSE IN TARIFFS FOR ALL COUNTRIES EXCEPT CHINA," the headline read, in an apparent reference to words from Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council.

Stock indexes soared. After trading as much as 4.7% lower early in the session, the S&P 500 rose to trade up 3.4% in a jarring intraday reversal. The broad-based index added $2.4 trillion in market value in the 10 minutes from 10:08 to 10:18 a.m., according to Dow Jones Market Data.

By 10:41 a.m. it had all been wiped out. The S&P 500 erased $2.5 trillion in value in around 23 minutes after the White House quickly denied that such a pause was being discussed.

After the false headline caused the S&P 500 to trade in its widest intraday range since March 2020, the index closed down just 0.2%.