Investors are stunned after the stock market closed its worst quarter in 3 years
April 1, 2025
Good morning.
Congratulations to Vice President JD Vance, who sold his home just outside Washington, DC, for $172,000 over the asking price after less than three weeks on the market. The buyer?
A former Trump official
.
After back-to-back years of double-digit gains, yesterday's plunge showed just how much Trump has surprised markets since returning to the White House.
It seems he is no longer the market's champion. The White House has telegraphed its position stating as much, BI's Jennifer Sor writes.
"Wall Street's done great, Wall Street can continue to do fine, but we have a focus on small business and consumers," the Treasury secretary said last month. Instead of equity prices, the White House is focusing on
the 10-year Treasury yield
to lower borrowing costs.
Meanwhile, inflation and recession fears have intensified under Trump's tariff campaign.
Consumer sentiment
has dropped to multi-year lows and
CEO confidence
is spiraling as planning for the future becomes more difficult.
To make matters worse, investors should prepare for another three months of pain ahead.
"The expected fallout from Trump 2.0's Reign of Tariffs undercuts our former bullishness and dims the prospects of our base-case Roaring 2020s scenario for now," veteran analyst Ed Yardeni wrote. He lowered his S&P 500 year-end target to 6,100 from a prior forecast of 6,400.
At the same time, Goldman Sachs cut its three-month target for the index to 5,300, a
possible 5% drop
from current levels.
It's now the eve of Trump's "Liberation Day," and investors are nervously awaiting the unveiling of a range of reciprocal tariffs on US trading partners. With so much uncertainty ahead, Deutsche Bank flagged
three risks to watch in the coming quarter
.
3 things in markets
1. Floyd Mayweather's big commercial real estate boasts don't match reality.
The retired boxing champ has bragged about a $400 million purchase of 62 Manhattan apartment buildings. But in the month since his announcement, there's been
no evidence of a sale
.
2. CEO Larry Fink wants to build a new BlackRock.
After decades of dominating the liquid markets, BlackRock is betting big
on private markets
. Fink wrote about the transformation in his annual letter to investors, saying the firm is focused on a "$68 trillion boom" in infrastructure.
3. Newsmax might be the newest Trump trade.
The conservative media company
soared more than 700%
in its stock market debut, valuing Newsmax at about $8 billion. That's double the valuation of Trump Media and a third of Fox Corp.
3 things in tech
1. YouTube is about to eclipse Disney as the biggest media company in the world.
The company brought in $54.2 billion in revenue in 2024, according to MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson, which is only $5.5 billion behind Disney. But people still don't seem to understand
how big YouTube
really is, BI's Peter Kafka writes.
2. Elon Musk is spending millions on a supercomputer, but can he run it?
xAI is spending at least $400 million on building the world's largest supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee, according to documents viewed by BI. But it's short on
the power needed to operate it
.
3. Tumblr is Gen Z's newest safe space.
Yes, millennials, you heard that right. Gen Zers, fed up with Musk and Zuckerberg, are reviving
Tumblr dot com
. How long they'll stay, however, is another question.
3 things in business
1. Tesla told salesworkers to "stay vigilant" in a video sent before last weekend's protests.
The company described a "dynamic environment"
in a clip sent to sales staff
. It featured smiling employees, promo footage of Optimus and Robotaxi, and a dog — but no direct mention of the recent protests. One employee called it "trivial" and "disappointing."
2. To fix America's affordable housing problem, be more French.
Paris' 19th-century redesign achieved both an unrivaled urban population density and a signature look for the city. Adopting Euro-style zoning can help US cities lower housing costs
and look good doing it
.
3. Don't be surprised to see Gucci ads on Fox News.
Conservative media outlets say they're seeing an
uptick in advertising
from major brands. It's a sign advertisers now see avoiding right-leaning media as a risk — and it's also a 180 from the brand boycotts of Trump's first term.
In other news
What's happening today
Wisconsin Supreme Court election. Elon Musk has spent more than $20 million supporting the conservative favorite.
Forbes' World Billionaires List of the world's richest people announced.
The Insider Today team:
Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York (on parental leave). Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Meghan Morris, deputy bureau chief, in Singapore. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.
