Trump was warned of empty shelves and financial turmoil from tariffs and firing Powell. His U-turn pushed stocks higher
Kevin Liptak Jeff Zeleny David Goldman
By Kevin Liptak, Jeff Zeleny and David Goldman, CNN
6 minute read
Updated 4:51 PM EDT, Wed April 23, 2025
CNN —
President Donald Trump’s unprecedented tariffs, particularly on China, and recent attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell caused alarm among some of his top advisers and America’s biggest CEOs, who warned of financial chaos and store shelves that could go bare, people familiar with the conversations said.
The warnings — and the markets’ own volatility this week — seemed to have broken through. Trump backed down Tuesday from his threats to try to remove Powell from the job, telling reporters in the Oval Office: “I have no intention of firing him.”
That prompted sighs of relief on Wall Street. A day after markets boomed on comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that Trump would seek to de-escalate the trade war with China, US markets gained again on Wednesday.
Top administration officials were also relieved by Trump’s Oval Office statement on Powell, the people familiar with the matter said. The officials had become unnerved by the heated rhetoric and wary of a prolonged legal battle should Trump attempt to unseat the Fed chair.
The Dow closed higher by 420 points, or 1.07%. The broader S&P 500 gained 1.67% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 2.5%.
The three major indexes held on to a rally but finished well below their highest levels of the day. The Dow surged nearly 1,200 points in the morning before pulling back: Stocks came off their highest levels after Bessent cautioned that it could take considerable time to rebalance trade between the United States and China.
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https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/23/business/stock-market-dow-jerome-powell-fed-trump/index.html
