P.M. Edition for Mar. 31. U.S. markets bounced back from sharp losses early in the day. Markets reporter Hannah Erin Lang walks us through what’s driving the volatility. Plus, screws are essential to manufacturing; now, steel and aluminium tariffs have made them a lot more expensive. WSJ metals and manufacturing reporter Bob Tita explains what companies are doing about it. And President Trump leaves open the possibility of running for a third term, a move that the Constitution prohibits. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What market changes occurred at the end of the quarter?
A turbulent quarter for U.S. markets ends with a turbulent day as stocks recover after sliding on tariff concerns. Plus, screws are a staple of manufacturing and tariffs just made them a whole lot more expensive.
Pretty much all manufacturers have some exposure to this. Certainly machinery, farm equipment, construction equipment, automotive, heavy-duty equipment, as well as the construction industry.
And President Trump says he's considering running for a third term. It's Monday, March 31st. I'm Alex Sosola for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. U.S. stocks were mixed today, ahead of an eventful week for markets.
President Trump is set to announce his next round of tariffs on Wednesday, and the latest jobs report is expected for Friday. Major U.S. indexes bounced back after starting the day sharply lower. The S&P 500 ended the day about 0.6% higher and the Nasdaq fell about 0.1%. Both indexes recorded their biggest quarterly losses since 2022. The Dow was up 1%.
Hannah Aaron Lang covers markets for The Wall Street Journal. Hannah, U.S. markets opened significantly lower today, but then they rallied this afternoon. What caused them to dip and then what brought them back up?
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Chapter 2: What caused the U.S. market volatility today?
Today was a trading day that felt very similar to other days we've seen in the market so far in 2025, where whenever President Trump speaks about tariffs or there's some kind of significant report on the details of the tariff policy coming out of his administration, it's It sends big ripples through the market. And we saw global stock markets end lower in Europe and Asia.
And we saw a pretty sharp decline in U.S. stocks when the market opened. And as you mentioned, stocks seem to recover from those losses quite significantly. So... My sense of what happened is that over the weekend, investors got some more mixed signals on the tariff front. This seemed to spook investors, at least initially.
But as they processed the news, maybe we eventually got back to this place of these big events that we have coming up in the market this week. Trump's self-imposed tariff deadline, as well as the jobs report on Friday. Investors are coming around to the fact that it might not be worst case scenario on either of those fronts.
And of course, we're at the end of March. So how are markets ending this turbulent first quarter?
Markets are ending the first quarter of 2025 in an extremely different place than they did the fourth quarter of 2024, especially when it comes to the kind of stars or leaders of the stock market. If you think about those names that were really on top in November, December, during that post-election rally—
Nvidia, Tesla, the Mag7, right, all these big tech stocks that fueled a lot of gains in 2023 and 2024 and spurred this broader risk-on attitude among investors. Those stocks have been some of the laggards, and then less risky assets have also attracted more interest from investors.
So things like bonds, but even stocks in the consumer staples sector or dividend stocks we've reported on have outperformed the market. because of the uncertainty around tariffs and the economy that is fueling a lot of anxiety among investors right now.
That was WSJ reporter Hannah Aaron Lang. As the U.S.
prepares to unleash new levies on a range of trade partners and they in turn look to respond with their own tariffs, What's News will be speaking to a top EU lawmaker in charge of trade, the economist inspiring much of Trump's trade policy, and a former Treasury official who can explain why Trump's 25% car tariffs won't tip China from the top auto spot.
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Chapter 3: How are tariffs affecting manufacturing costs?
Chapter 4: Could President Trump run for a third term?
That's in the morning edition of What's News this week, starting tomorrow. President Trump is leaving open the possibility of running for a third term, a move that's prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One yesterday, Trump said people had been asking him about it, even though he says he's not focused on it at the moment.
I don't want to talk about a third term now, because no matter how you look at it, we've got a long time to go. We have a long time. You know, we have almost four years to go. And that's a long time. But despite that, so many people are saying, you've got to run again. They love the job we do. Most importantly, they love the job we do.
The 22nd Amendment of the Constitution bars presidents from serving more than two terms. It states, no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice. In an interview with NBC yesterday, Trump said there are methods that would allow him to run for a third term and added that he was, quote, not joking about the possibility.
A French court has convicted far-right leader Marine Le Pen of misusing almost $5 million in European Union funds, banning her from the next presidential election where she was expected to be a frontrunner. As part of her sentence, Le Pen received a four-year prison term, half of which was suspended, and she was barred from seeking public office for the next five years.
Chapter 5: How are European political dynamics shifting?
That rules her out of the 2027 presidential race unless she can win a swift appeal. In a TV interview today, Le Pen said that she was scandalized by the judge's decision and planned to file an appeal. The court's ruling triggered a political earthquake in France and beyond.
A State Department spokeswoman said, "...the exclusion of people from the political process is particularly concerning given the aggressive and corrupt lawfare waged against President Trump here in the United States." Coming up, now that tariffs against steel and aluminum are in place, one little product is having a big impact across industries. That's after the break.
President Trump's recently implemented tariffs on steel and aluminum imports have scrambled supply chains, affecting everything from car parts to lawnmowers. One import really feeling the impact? Screws. And the rising costs for screws are rippling through the manufacturing supply chains. Bob Tita, who covers manufacturing and metals for the journal, is here now with more.
So, Bob, in 2018, President Trump put a similar tariff into place on steel and aluminum. Why is this one different?
This one is an expansion of the 2018 tariffs on steel and aluminum. This latest tariff expanded the tariff for aluminum and raised it and also extended it to hundreds and hundreds of what the administration is calling derivative products. So finished goods that are made of steel and aluminum and screws, nuts, bolts, fasteners in general are included in that.
OK, so what is the industry doing about this then?
Well, right now, they're all trying to assess their own costs, their own exposure to all this, figuring out if there are domestic suppliers that can provide some of this. Some of the people we talked to in the story said the domestic producers, there's just not enough of them. And so there's a real concern about where they would get these fasteners domestically if
just tariff to make them prohibitively expensive.
That was WSJ reporter Bob Tita. Thanks, Bob.
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Chapter 6: Why are screws becoming more expensive?
So the companies are, for now, really talking about the pressured consumer. For the last few years, America went through this massive period of inflation. Companies were able to pass a lot of those price increases to the consumer. And so many consumers are trading down to smaller snacks or to private labels. And that's really what they're pointing their finger at.
Okay, so less money to go around, less money to spend on a little impulse snack purchase. What are companies doing about this?
So the companies are going to be using promotional tools like discounting and spending more on advertising. At the same time, a lot of companies are hedging their bets and purchasing companies that focus on snacks that are enjoying better growth. For example, Pepsi did a $1.2 billion acquisition of Siete Foods, which is known for its grain-free tortilla chips.
Some analysts are talking about companies focused on yogurt or protein bars. So if you look at Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, nutrition shakes, meat snacks, all of these have actually been going up by 5-10% in sales in 2024.
And then if you look at some of the unhealthier snacks, like say ready-to-eat popcorn, chocolate, fruit snacks, pretzels, those are categories that are underperforming and going down. So this picture emerges that maybe some Americans at the margin are moving towards healthier snacks, and that could be a problem for some of these food companies.
What kinds of broader concerns do these companies have, especially because there's a new administration in town that might be affecting some of their business?
That's true. They're definitely also watching what's happening in the Maha land, Make America Healthy Again. Recently appointed health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been talking about removing artificial dyes from their foods and sort of blaming them for some of our health problems. When you talk to companies and analysts...
They really don't see a problem in eliminating like food additives, coloring in foods from the food supply. The big threat to these companies is if that Maha language really starts to change the way that many Americans perceive snacks and food in general.
That was WSJ Heard on the Street columnist David Wainer. Thank you, David.
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