CNBC Daily Open: U.S. markets tumble as Trump administration dismisses economic fears and stock slump

CNBC will be hosting “CONVERGE LIVE,” an inaugural thought leadership event on March 12-13, 2025, in Singapore, where global business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and key decision-makers will discuss what it means to innovate and grow by collaborating and sharing ideas across industries.

Viewers can watch the live stream of the event and hear from speakers including Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Kim Yong Gan, Alibaba Group Chairman Joe Tsai, Bridgewater Associates Founder Ray Dalio, and Salesforce CEO, chair, and co-founder Marc Benioff and others here.

The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency claims to be streamlining the federal government’s spending. But it has so far sown confusion, with the Trump administration attempting to rehire employees it had previously fired.

DOGE is a distorted mirror of what’s happening in the U.S. economy. Aiming to boost the domestic economy, U.S. President Donald Trump is firing off a salvo of policies, altering the course of them mid-flight and causing collateral damage within the country’s own borders. U.S. markets, specifically, have been on a downward trajectory and were hit hard on Monday.

Tariffs, according to Trump, are meant to protect U.S. businesses and punish trade partners. But so far, it seems that the world’s biggest economy is the one suffering.

Dismal day in the markets
U.S. stocks experienced a rout Monday as fears of a recession gripped investors. The S&P 500 dropped 2.7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.08% and the Nasdaq Composite sank 4% in its worst session since September 2022. The White House on Monday downplayed the market slump, saying it’s not as “meaningful” as business activity. Asia-Pacific markets also retreated Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell around 1% amid a weaker-than-expected showing for its fourth-quarter gross domestic product.

Trump brushes off tariff concerns
U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed concerns expressed by businesses that his tariff policies are uncertain. “They always say that. ‘We want clarity,'” Trump said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday. “They have plenty of clarity.” Asked whether he thinks a recession is imminent, Trump said, “I hate to predict things like that.” Later, Trump said, “Look, we’re going to have disruption, but we’re OK with that.”

Boosting consumption in China
Chinese policymakers last week doubled subsidies for a consumer trade-in program to 300 billion yuan ($41.47 billion) this year. While Beijing has refrained from providing cash handouts, government officials have been emphasizing the importance of consumer consumption to boost the country’s economy. Meanwhile, Chinese investors are snapping up stocks. Net mainland Chinese purchases of Hong Kong stocks hit a record 29.62 billion Hong Kong dollars ($3.81 billion) on Monday, according to the Wind Information database.

Automakers get one-month relief
Automakers Volkswagen and Stellantis have confirmed that their vehicles made in North America will be exempt for a month from Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico. However, BMW said it will face levies. Separately, the U.S. could reach an agreement with Canada that avoids tariffs on imports of oil, gas and other energy resources, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Monday.

Trouble at Tesla, X
Tesla shares plunged more than 15% Monday for their worst day since September 2020. It extends the company’s seven consecutive weeks in the red, its longest losing streak since debuting on the Nasdaq in 2010. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and head of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, said in a Fox interview Monday he’s running his businesses “with great difficulty.” Musk’s social media platform X experienced several outages the same day.

[PRO] China’s tech scene reinvigorated
Chinese tech companies raced to launch new products in a week that saw Beijing double down on its calls to support artificial intelligence. Analysts think that innovation in China’s AI sector is accelerating, which would benefit several suppliers involved in the technology’s infrastructure.

Trump ‘an agent of chaos and confusion,’ economists warn — but a U.S. recession isn’t in the cards yet

Global market volatility and geopolitical turbulence in the wake of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House have led to warnings that the U.S. economy could be heading for a recession — but economists say that a downturn isn’t in the cards just yet.

“I don’t think we will talk about a U.S. recession. The U.S economy is resilient, I would say, largely despite Donald Trump,” Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday.

“U.S. consumers have money to spend, [and] they probably will. The labor market in the U.S. remains reasonably firm, and with energy prices coming down a bit and probably some tax cuts and deregulation coming, I don’t think there’s an imminent recession risk,” according to Schmieding.