A false report on social media that was widely picked up by legitimate financial news outlets caused a brief buying frenzy on Wall Street early Monday morning.
The post claimed President Donald Trump was considering a three-month moratorium on global tariffs, including those announced less than a week ago, which will see most companies charged a 10 percent tax for importing goods from other countries.
The social media post was published by “Walter Bloomberg” on X, the social media platform owned by Trump advisor Elon Musk that previously operated as Twitter. The account has no known connection to Bloomberg News, the financial news outlet; it carries a blue “verified” badge, which X users receive as part of a premium subscription.
The post appeared to be referencing an interview aired earlier in the morning by the Fox News Channel, during which Kevin Hassett, the Director of the National Economic Council, commented on the reaction from Wall Street investors and the press to Trump’s tariff announcement last week.
Hassett was asked by “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade if Trump would consider a “90-day pause” on tariffs. Hassett’s response did not directly address the question, though he did criticize Wall Street investors and the media for what he considered to be an overreaction to Trump’s tariff announcement last week.
“The idea that it’s going to be a nuclear winter, or something like that, is completely irresponsible rhetoric,” Hassett said.
Somehow, Walter Bloomberg misconstrued his comments, writing in all caps: “Hassett: Trump is considering a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except China.”
The post was written in the style of a breaking news alert common sent across financial newswire services, including those operated by Bloomberg, Dow Jones and Reuters, the latter of which refers to alerts sent on their wire as “snaps.”
On Tuesday, two Reuters journalists familiar with the matter told The Desk that the news outlet transmitted a breaking news snap on its wire that was based on information from the Walter Bloomberg account, though the outlet waited until a similar report aired on CNBC before sending the alert to its editorial clients.
After the ruse was apparent, Reuters issued a follow-up alert on Monday withdrawing its snap and a subsequent news story on it, basing its original report to “a headline on CNBC.”
“The White House denied the report,” Reuters said in its follow-up. “Reuters has withdrawn the incorrect report and regrets its error.”
Reuters said its correction will be the only statement on the matter, and it will not issue a substitute story that offers greater detail about what happened or how the error was posted to its wire. A separate news article from Reuters reviewed by The Desk said Wall Street trading was “volatile” on Monday because investors were “worried about an economic slowdown and rising inflation as U.S. President Donald Trump dug his heels in on tariffs, warning that he could further increase levies on China.”
The erroneous news reports — which were repeated by other news outlets, attributed mainly to Reuters, before they, too, were withdrawn — caused the Standard and Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) to climb nearly 3.5 percent in midday trading before Wall Street continued its sell-off. The S&P 500 was nearly 1 percent lower by 3 p.m. Eastern Time.
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Disclosure: The author of this article worked for Reuters from 2012 to 2013.
