"This Is Madness": The 15 Minutes That Rocked Stock Markets

At just after 10 a.m., shouting erupted on the Siebert trading floor in downtown Manhattan. Mark Malek, the firm's chief investment officer, rushed out of his office to hear his head trader screaming that President Donald Trump was weighing suspending the across-the-board tariff roll-out that had been sinking stock markets for days.

Malek didn't believe it. "I call BS," he blurted out. But seconds later, he watched in astonishment as stocks soared wildly, erasing all of that early morning's loss in the S&P 500, and climbing as much as 3.4%. "The market is very sensitive," Malek said. "Tenterhooks is an understatement."

The headline that appeared to trigger it all seemed believable enough to traders desperate for some good news - even if it came from an obscure social-media account. "HASSETT: TRUMP IS CONSIDERING A 90-DAY PAUSE IN TARIFFS FOR ALL COUNTRIES EXCEPT CHINA," read the post on X. 

As stocks started to surge, the reposts piled up, followed by nearly identical headlines from major news outlets, including CNBC and Reuters. Within seven minutes, the S&P had added over $2.5 trillion in value.

And then, just as quickly, it evaporated. The White House said the remarks attributed to Kevin Hassett, the National Economic Council director, were "fake news" and stocks plummeted again. CNBC and Reuters acknowledged the mistake in statements and issued corrections. (Bloomberg News didn't publish the headline. Bloomberg did note to listeners of its Equities Squawk that unconfirmed social-media reports of a possible tariff delay had pushed the market higher.) 

When traders "realized this headline wasn't right, everything sold off again. Now everyone is getting their butts kicked," said Peter Tuchman, senior floor trader at TradeMas at the New York Stock Exchange. "This is madness."

All told, the round trip lasted just 15 minutes.

"The velocity of the moves was just staggering," said Justin Wiggs, a managing director in equity trading at Stifel Nicolaus. "It felt swifter than anything I ever experienced during Covid and the financial crisis on a trading desk." 

Still, even after stocks gave back their gains, the selling fever coursing through the market subsided, with stocks fluctuating between gains and losses in the afternoon. The episode served as a reminder to some investors that it doesn't take much to spark a sudden rally at moments like this, forcing them to rethink how much they'd gutted their equity positions. 

"The upside risk is just as scary when markets rip 8% on a Truth Social post or false headline," said Chris Murphy, co-head of derivatives strategy at Susquehanna.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)