After a wild last week, the stock market looks to stablize, but still continues to slide. There is still uncertainty with tariffs and how they will impact the US and global economy, but some questions seemed to be starting to get an answer. Let’s review the finance news over the weekend.
Stock Market Slide
Last week saw a steep slide in the stock market after the announcement of major tariffs by President Trump.
Things seemed to stabilize a little bit Monday afternoon. There was a quick increase for the S&P, but it didn’t last long. However, the S&P dropped only 0.23% after seeing almost a 10% drop the week before. The Dow Jones dropped almost 1% today, but again, looked to be a little better than last week’s performance.
Bitcoin Drops
Bitcoin saw a steep decline over the weekend, dropping from around $83k to under $75k. The performance of Bitcoin closely matched the performance of the stock market, as there continues to be uncertainty around tariffs. Stocks represent ownership in their respective companies, but Bitcoin represents ownership of a digital asset. There are many that are uncertain and continue to sell off their assets. Bitcoin hit over $100k just a few months ago, and since then there has a large sell-off.
Tariff Negotiations Abound
Trump’s top Economic Adviser Director Kevin Hassett told ABC News that 50 countries are ready to negotiate tariffs over the weekend. There have been several questions about the purpose of the tariffs, but if the President is looking to negotiate tariffs with individual countries and it would reduce tariffs for both countries, then there could be some positive news in the near future.
Payroll Increases in March; Unemployment 4.2%
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on April 4th that payroll employment rose by 228,000 in March. This was coupled with a 4.2% unemployment rate that saw 7.1 million unemployed in the United States. The report stated: “Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 228,000 in March, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in health care, in social assistance, and in transportation and warehousing. Employment also increased in retail trade, partially reflecting the return of workers from a strike. Federal government employment declined.”
Mortgage Rates Drop; Gasoline Down
Mortgage rates for 30-year mortgages dropped slightly from 6.65% to 6.64% last week. Mortgage rates were 7.04% as of January 16th, but they have very slowly been declining.
Gasoline prices declined to $2.03/gallon for the month of April. This price relief is good for consumers as inflation prices have been in question over the last few weeks during the discussions of tariffs.
You can check out a video review of the news below!