The third anniversary of the bull market took an unexpected turn on Friday as President Donald Trump’s latest comments on China sent shock waves through financial markets, erasing 2.7% from the S&P 500 in a single trading session. What was expected to be a modest celebration of America’s longest stretch of market gains in a decade quickly transformed into another episode of geopolitical brinkmanship, this time over the world’s most strategic resources— rare earth metals—and marked by a fresh round of Chinese export restrictions.
Investors entered Friday morning with cautious optimism. The S&P 500 had drifted higher for much of the week, setting fresh record highs along the way. But by midday, sentiment had shifted sharply after Trump issued a lengthy Truth Social post stating, among other things, that the U.S. is considering a “massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products” coming into the U.S. He then said the U.S. would impose tariffs of 100% on Chinese imports “over and above any tariff they are already paying” beginning on Nov. 1.
