The Final Tally: Trump's Truth Social Post Triggers Market Implosion—Dow Craters 478 Points…

The stock market just got body-slammed—again. By the end of Tuesday’s chaos, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had shed 478 points (-1.1%), the S&P 500 dipped 0.76%, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.18%. But that doesn’t even tell the full story—because at one point, the S&P 500 actually flirted with the dreaded 10% correction level before bouncing off the ropes.

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Now if you blinked, you probably missed it, so here’s how it all went down: 

Trump logs onto Truth Social and announces that tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum are doubling to 50%—effective immediately. Markets panic, because nobody likes a trade war—especially not one sparked by a Twitter knockoff. Ontario Premier Doug Ford blinks first, saying he’ll temporarily suspend the 25% surcharge on U.S. electricity that triggered Trump’s tantrum in the first place. Trump (maybe?) backs off, hinting that he could lower the tariffs after all. Traders drink heavily. The end and thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

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In short, this is exactly the kind of schizophrenic trade policy that’s been rattling corporate confidence for weeks. One minute, we’re in a trade war. The next, we’re not. It’s madness I tell you. However, while Trump was busy playing tariff roulette, Delta Air Lines decided to pour gasoline on the market’s recession jitters by slashing its earnings outlook. 

The reason? Weaker U.S. demand. Translation: Consumers are pulling back, and when people stop booking flights, it’s rarely a bullish signal for the economy. Duh. This ultimately had Delta cratering 7% as it took down the entire travel sector with it. 

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The carnage is as follows: Disney fell 5% (because if people aren’t flying, they’re not visiting overpriced theme parks, either). Airbnb dropped 5%, extending its losing streak to four straight weeks. Expedia got wrecked, down 7.5%, crashing through its 50-day moving average like a hot knife cutting through butter. 

Additionally, if you thought travel had a bad day, imagine being a Kohl’s investor—shares imploded 24%, marking the worst single-day loss in the stock’s history. The funny part? The company actually beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates (which, in normal times, would be a good thing)---but then, it delivered absolute trash guidance for 2025, essentially telling investors, “Yeah, we’re screwed.”

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But, but, but… Not everything was burning to the ground. A couple of names somehow managed to post gains: Paymentus Holdings surged 24%, after obliterating Q4 revenue estimates and posting 44% profit growth. Turns out, when people are stressed about money, they still make sure their bills get paid.

Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines popped 8%, because apparently… checks notes… Wall Street is thrilled that the airline will start charging for checked bags—a move that will squeeze every last dime from passengers while helping Southwest reclaim its 200-day moving average. Bigly. 

(Source: Giphy) 

In the end, between Trump’s trainwreck tariff policies, recession fears, and big-name earnings disasters, markets are on high alert. The S&P 500 is dangerously close to official correction territory, and if confidence keeps eroding, we could be looking at a much deeper selloff. Fun. 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. $1.4 million, $1.02 million, $6.715 million and $25.3 million—these aren’t lottery winnings or Miami real estate prices… they’re all insider transactions that have gone down in the last week while retail investors were busy panic-selling everything. Want to track these corporate fat cats in real-time so you can pretend you're also an executive with material nonpublic information? (Legally, of course.) Click here to join Stocks.News premium while you still can…

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