(Marcos del Mazo/Getty Images)

Stocks hammered by tariff turmoil

A Truth Social post from President Trump threatening a “massive increase” on tariffs sent stocks into their steepest drop-off since April.

Tasha Matsumoto, Luke Kawa

US stocks nosedived after President Trump said in a Truth Social post that he is considering a “massive increase” to tariffs on Chinese imports. For the second day in a row, consumer staples was the only sector ETF to finish in the green.

It was the worst day for the S&P 500 since April, when tariff threats roiled markets.

Trump said he’s mulling higher levies as well as “many other countermeasures” because of “the hostile ‘order’ that they have just put out” restricting the export of rare earth metals. Trump also seemingly canceled his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea in two weeks, saying, “Now there seems to be no reason to do so.”

Stocks most impacted by tariff tensions:

Rare earth stocks MP Materials — which the US government recently took a stake in — USA Rare Earth, and Critical Metals jumped, suggesting investor bets that the administration could play a bigger role in ensuring US access to rare earths.
Wafer fab equipment stocks Lam Research, Applied Materials, and KLA Corp, which all count China as their top market, underperformed, as did iPhone seller Apple.
Chip stocks Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, Broadcom, and Nvidia were hit on the news, as rare earths are needed components for semiconductor production. For Tesla, it’s a similar story given its footprint in China and the importance of rare earths for EVs.
Shares of several other major automakers with large footprints in China sank, including Chinese EV titans like BYD, Nio, and XPeng, along with Stellantis, which heavily relies on revenue from sales in China. EV makers Rivian and Lucid, which source raw materials and/or batteries from China, were also down following the post.
There was also a lot of plain old dumping of recent winners: Super Micro Computer, Coinbase, and Robinhood Markets lagged after Trump’s post as investors cut risk. (Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)

Stocks that moved higher:

Applied Digital soared after the company reported better-than-expected results for its fiscal Q1 and said hyperscalers are lining up to secure capacity as it plans a multiyear expansion.
Nuclear energy company Oklo surged amid heavy call options demand.

Stocks that moved lower:

IonQ fell after announcing plans to raise nearly $2 billion from the sale of stock and warrants to Heights Capital Management.
Levi’s fell after the denim giant topped Q3 estimates but warned of margin pressure tied to tariffs.

J. Edward Moreno

Lilly Endowment unloads about $600 million in Eli Lilly stock during early October

The nonprofit still owns about 10% of the company, a stake now worth about $80.9 billion.

Pharmaceutical Company Eli Lilly Headquarters

Max Knoblauch7h

Global automakers sink as Trump implies the trade war is heating back up

Shares of several major automakers with large footprints in China sank on Friday following President Trump’s threats to massively increase tariffs on goods from China in response to what he called “hostile” export controls.

Chinese EV titans like BYD, Nio, and XPeng plunged after Trump’s Truth Social post, along with automakers like Tesla and Stellantis that heavily rely on revenue from sales in the country.

EV makers like Rivian and Lucid, which source raw materials and or batteries from China, were also down following the post.

The move comes at a rocky time for US automakers, with the end of the EV tax credit expected to heavily ding sales for the rest of the year.

Matt Phillips8h

Rare earth stocks spike after Trump says China should not be allowed to hold the world “captive” on rare earths

Shares of rare earth metal producers soared Friday after the president published a Truth Social statement decrying what he describes as Chinese efforts to control the pipeline of the sought-after minerals.

Companies such as MP Materials — which the US government recently took a stake in — USA Rare Earth, and Critical Metals jumped, suggesting investor bets that the the administration could play a bigger role in ensuring US access to rare earths.

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

Luke Kawa8h

US stocks sink after Trump says he’s considering a “massive increase” of tariffs on Chinese imports

More tariffs might be back on the menu.

US stocks reversed lower after US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that he is considering a “massive increase” on tariffs of Chinese imports.

Trump said he’s mulling higher levies as well as “many other countermeasures” because of “the hostile ‘order’ that they have just put out” restricting the export of rare earth metals. He also seemingly canceled his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea in two weeks, saying “now there seems to be no reason to do so.”

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF, Invesco QQQ Trust, and iShares Russell 2000 ETF all gave up early gains to fall more than 1%. A basket of stocks compiled by Goldman Sachs of US companies that have significant revenue exposure to China is off more than 2%.

Wafer fab equipment stocks Lam Research, Applied Materials, and KLA Corp, which all count China as their top market, are underperforming, as is iPhone seller Apple.

Chip stocks Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, Broadcom, and Nvidia are all getting hit on the news, as rare earths are needed components for semiconductor production. For Tesla, it’s a similar story given its footprint in China and the importance of rare earths for EVs.

There’s also a lot of plain old dumping of recent winners.

Super Micro Computer, Coinbase, and Robinhood Markets are among the biggest laggards since Trump’s post as investors cut risk.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)

The rare earth curbs are far from the only recent example of China stepping up its defense of domestic industry and resources. Qualcomm is the subject of an antitrust investigation, stringent checks of semiconductor shipments are reportedly in place as officials look to keep Nvidia’s chips from entering the country, and separate reporting indicates that US ships will be charged an escalating fee for docking at Chinese ports.

Luke Kawa8h

Oklo surges amid heavy activity in call options expiring today

The most valuable pre-revenues company listed in the US, nuclear energy company Oklo, is up double digits on Friday amid heavy call options demand.

Call volumes of 74,230 have already outstripped the 10-day average for a full session an hour into the trading day, and the top three contracts traded are all in options that expire today with strike prices of $150, $145, and $160.

The first two contracts have jumped from out of the money to in the money amid the surge. Volumes transacted on the “ask” side (the lowest price a seller is willing to accept) are running more than 2x higher than on the “bid” side (the highest price a buyer is willing to pay), indicating motivated buyers in the C$150s, the most active contract.

Overall, options activity is firmly tilted to the bull side, with more than two calls trading for every put:

Nuclear energy companies have emerged as retail trader favorites as the power-hungry AI boom continues.

“A new $350 billion US nuclear build cycle could raise capacity 60% by 2050, sparking a renaissance to meet surging energy demand from AI and data centers,” wrote Bloomberg Intelligence senior analysts Rob Barnett and Scott Levine. “Energized by bipartisan policy support, the nuclear industry is positioned as a critical solution for securing and decarbonizing America’s power grid for the AI era.”