CNBC Daily Open: Trump tariffs could be hours away — but might be milder than thought

The dread of something bad happening is usually more severe than the event itself.

This could well be the case for U.S. President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariff plan. Even though Trump initially described it as “reciprocal tariffs,” implying that the U.S. would match other countries’ import levies, the White House is reportedly considering a 20% charge on most goods and services. The figure sounds high, but is dramatically lower than, for instance, India’s tariff on auto imports — which can go up to 70%, according to Times of India.

Investors’ worries were slightly assuaged by the news, pushing up stocks. It is, however, too early to let down your guard. Concrete details of Trump’s plans are still unclear. Uncertainty is a bargaining chip for Trump; he could unleash a much more brutal tariff regime than expected.

Other times, experiencing something bad could be worse than dreading it.

T-1 to tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” will be announced Wednesday and “be effective immediately,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday. Details of Trump’s plans are still unclear, but The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the White House is considering tariffs of around 20% on most imports. Trump’s plan to reshape global trade comes at a time when the U.S. economy is looking increasingly shaky.

Volatile trading
U.S. markets mostly rose in a choppy trading session Tuesday. The S&P 500 closed 0.38% up, the Nasdaq Composite added 0.87%, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell a fractional 0.03%. Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 inched up roughly 0.1%, while South Korea’s Kospi index declined around 0.6% amid annual inflation reaccelerating to 2.1% in March, higher than the 2% in February and expected by a Reuters poll.

Freshly listed stocks jump
CoreWeave’s stock popped nearly 42% on Tuesday to close at $52.57, bringing the company to a nearly $25 billion market capitalization. The artificial intelligence cloud company listed Friday in the biggest venture-backed tech IPO for a U.S. company since 2021. Separately, shares of conservative cable channel Newsmax soared nearly 180% Tuesday, a day after the stock spiked more than 700% during its debut on the New York Stock Exchange.

Meta’s head of AI research departs
Meta’s vice president of AI research, Joelle Pineau, announced in a LinkedIn post Tuesday her departure from the company. Her last day at the social media company will be May 30. Pineau has led the company’s fundamental AI research unit, or FAIR, since 2023. Pineau helped oversee Meta’s open-source Llama family of AI models and other technologies like the PyTorch software for AI developers.

[PRO] ‘Avoid the tariff tantrum’
The U.S., as the world’s biggest economy, drives the finances of many international companies. Trump’s tariffs are expected to slam the brakes, at least temporarily, on revenue growth of those firms. But there are three stocks that can “avoid the tariff tantrum,” according to one investor.

Norway urged to scrap ban on $1.8 trillion wealth fund investing in weapons makers

Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, has been prevented from taking stakes in companies that produce critical components for nuclear weapons since the early 2000s.

Under ethical guidelines, the fund has also been barred from investing in firms that are involved in the production of cluster munitions, anti-personnel landmines and tobacco, among other things.

The country’s center-right Conservative party said the time has come for the government to lift the ban on taking stakes in certain defense companies, citing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the “significant rearming” of countries such as China in recent years.