Shall we begin? The market took a brick to the face Friday because Donald Trump decided to take that same brick and throw it at Apple. The Dow dropped 256 points, the Nasdaq got smashed -1%, and the S&P 500, down -0.67%, logged its fourth straight loss. Meanwhile, all of it was triggered by a Truth Social post from the president, who presumably woke up and chose chaos… specifically, a direct threat to Tim Cook and a casual warning to the entire European Union. Bigly. 

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In short, Trump’s post declared that any iPhone sold in the U.S. must be made in the U.S., or Apple will pay a 25% tariff. Go big or go home… literally. Apple’s stock immediately fell 3%, because most iPhones are made in China. Not in Ohio. Not in Texas. Not even in the ghost of that Wisconsin Foxconn factory that was supposed to exist. Apple has spent the past few years slowly shifting some production to India, but unless Tim Cook has a time machine, this isn’t a pivot they can make fast enough to avoid the fallout.

What’s more is that this is the time Trump has named and targeted a single company in the new wave of trade threats, and of course it’s the largest one. Apple’s entire supply chain is now a political hostage, and investors are being told to either believe in a miracle or buy puts LOL. Meanwhile, U.S. Steel was handed a golden ticket by Teflon Don. Shares shot up 21% after Trump gave the go-ahead on its merger with Japan’s Nippon Steel… (finally). And they say parents don’t pick favorites. 

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As for Booz Allen Hamilton, shares got kicked in the teeth. The consulting giant dropped 15% after announcing it would cut 2,500 jobs, about 7% of its workforce, blaming a slowdown in government spending. Translation: Trump isn’t throwing enough cash at the DoD grift machine. And now, Booz is bleeding out headcount to protect margins. They didn’t even try to spin it. Just layoffs, pain, and a future earnings call that’s going to be 45 minutes of creative accounting and quiet panic. 

Oh, and then there’s nuclear. Shares of companies like Oklo (+23.04%) and NuScale (+19.48%) surged after reports that Trump is preparing an executive order to streamline reactor approvals and boost domestic fuel supply chains. This has nothing to do with climate policy and everything to do with AI companies sucking down electricity like it’s oxygen. Data centers need power. Coal is gross. Solar can’t keep up. So now nuclear is the only honest woman in town, because… shocker… AI, baby. 

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In the end, today’s trading was another case study in how unpredictable and psychotic markets are right now. But this is the market at the moment, where we are all just one single Truth Social post away from armageddon. Joking obviously… but kinda serious if you actually have skin in this market. Regardless though, take a shot have fun this weekend and happy Memorial Day! Until next time, friends… 

If you read all of this, congrats for having a 10 second attention span (better than me). As always, here’s our heatmap for today.

P.S. Some fat cat executive sold $9.4 million of their company's stock this week… a company, mind you, that’s single-handedly responsible for your kid’s sugar rush before 8 a.m. Curious to see why? Click here to join Stocks.News premium and get these insider transactions delivered to you on a silver platter. 

Stocks.News holds positions in Apple as mentioned in the article.