Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, Disney and More Media Stocks Rally as Trump Sets 90-Day Pause on Tariffs for Some Countries

by

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 surged by almost 8% after President Donald Trump declared a 90-day halt to the planned tariffs for nations that won’t retaliate. It’s important to note that this exemption does not apply to China, which faces an increase of up to 125% in taxes on imported goods.

Trump announced on Truth Social that he’s increasing the tariff on goods from China to 125% starting right away. He believes that China should understand soon that it can no longer exploit other countries, including the USA. However, since more than 75 countries have contacted the U.S. departments of Commerce, Treasury, and USTR to discuss trade issues, tariffs, currency manipulation, and non-monetary tariffs, and these countries haven’t retaliated against the U.S., Trump has decided to put a 90-day pause on these increased tariffs and lower the reciprocal tariff to 10% for this period as well. He thanks everyone for their attention to this matter.

Several media and technology companies saw a surge in their stock prices following the announcement, with the following increases at the time of release: Warner Bros. Discovery rose by 17%, Netflix climbed 6.5%, Disney gained 10%, Paramount increased by 6%, Amazon saw a rise of 9.6%, Apple went up by 9.5%, Meta Platforms Inc. jumped 11%, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) increased by 7.6%, Nvidia surged 16%, Fox Corporation experienced an uptick of 7.8% and Microsoft gained 8.64%.

As a movie reviewer, I’d say: “In the world of financial blockbusters, the Nasdaq Composite experienced a staggering 10% surge today, just shy of its most impressive one-day increase since 2008. Simultaneously, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a significant leap of over 7%, equivalent to more than 2,500 points.

The upturn follows several consecutive downtrends in the U.S. stock market, primarily due to concerns that President Trump’s extensive tariffs could ignite a full-blown trade war and ultimately cause an economic downturn or recession.

Major US stock indices experienced significant declines last Friday, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones experiencing their largest single-day drops since the COVID pandemic’s start in June 2020, while the Nasdaq Composite fell into a bear market due to its continuous decline since December 2024.

Initially, Trump’s tariffs established a starting rate of 10% tax on imports from all nations. However, specific regions and countries like China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the European Union faced higher rates – 34%, 25%, 24%, 32%, and 20% respectively. The 10% tariffs came into effect on April 5, while the increased duties were scheduled to start from Wednesday.

Read More

2025-04-09 21:47