Trump's Post On China Hits US Stock Market: Each Word Costs $4 Billion!—Here's How
The curbs on rare earth exports eventually led Donald Trump to announce a 100% tariff on China, thus reigniting the trade war between the two countries.
The US market, which was initially en route to register new highs on Friday, witnessed a bloodbath that saw nearly $2 trillion wiped off from the markets, as US President Donald Trump posted a cautionary note on China through social media.
The S&P ended the day with cuts of about 2.7%, marking its worst day since April. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, whose top companies are closely involved in trade with China, lost 3.5% while the Dow registered its worst performance since May, sinking 1.9%. Even the small-cap focused Russell 2000 index fell 3%.
The aftermath? About $2 trillion of value wiped off from the US stock market, as calculated by Bespoke Investments.
As mentioned earlier, this came directly on the back of Trump's social media post on China, in which the US president flagged 'strange things' happening in China, especially after the Asian powerhouse doubled down its restrictions on the export of rare earth materials.
China controls about 70% of the world's supply chain in rare earths, which is a key element for making semiconductors, electric vehicles. It also serves as a raw material for advanced missiles.
The curbs on rare earth exports eventually led Donald Trump to announce a 100% tariff on China, thus reigniting the trade war between the two countries.
Trump's Words Cost $4 Billion
What is interesting, however, is that Donald Trump's social media post on China was about 504 words. If we do the math, each word comes down to about $3.97 billion, which can be rounded off to $4 billion.
If we dig deeper, each letter in Trump's post cost $708 million in value - potentially making it the most expensive social media post in history, at least as far as US markets are concerned. This is indicative of the kind of sway Donald Trump has over the fate of global markets.
