Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Donald Trump trades — Individual stocks viewed as trades tied to Donald Trump’s election odds surged as the Republican clinched a return to the White House. Trump Media & Technology , majority owned by Trump himself, popped nearly 5%. Tesla , whose CEO publicly backed the President-elect, surged more than 14% . Phunware , the company behind the campaign’s app, climbed 5%. Crypto stocks — Cryptocurrency-related names soared after investors bet that a Trump presidency would lead to a more supportive regulatory environment. Shares of Coinbase surged 28% and MicroStrategy rose about 12%, as bitcoin rallied to a new record high . Bank stocks — Big banks rallied broadly on the back of Trump’s victory in the presidential election. Investors forecast that his presidency will lead to looser regulation and allow more mergers and acquisitions across the sector. Citigroup and Bank of America climbed more than 9% and 8% each. Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo jumped 12% and 14%, respectively. CVS Health — The pharmacy retailer soared 10% after CVS posted third-quarter revenue of $95.43 billion , which surpassed consensus estimates of $92.75 billion, per LSEG. On the other hand, CVS’ adjusted earnings of $1.09 per share fell short of the $1.51 per share analysts anticipated. Clean energy — Clean energy stocks sank as investors bet that a Trump presidency could lead to an overhaul of recent industry reforms and progress, including a repeal of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Plug Power shed more than 23% and Sunrun lost nearly 29%. SolarEdge Technologies lost about 20%. Enphase Energy was last down around 17%. Novo Nordisk — U.S.-listed shares of the Danish pharmaceuticals firm slipped 3%. Novo Nordisk reported that its third-quarter net profit came in above analyst estimates . Sales of its weight-loss drug Wegovy were also 79% higher in the third-quarter of 2024 than the same period a year earlier. Private prison stocks — Geo Group and CoreCivic popped 39% and 29%, respectively after Trump, who has promised a mass deportation of illegal immigrants, won the White House. Cannabis stocks — Shares of cannabis companies dropped after voters rejected a Florida ballot measure to legalize the sale and use of marijuana in the state. Tilray sank 14%, while U.S.-listed shares of Canada-based companies Aurora Cannabis and Canopy Growth lost 18% and 23%, respectively. Super Micro Computer — Shares plunged 24% after the embattled computer server maker guided for revenue in its December quarter between $5.5 billion and $6.1 billion , missing analysts’ expectations. Super Micro’s adjusted earnings per share outlook also fell short of the Street’s forecast. The company is unsure when it will file annual results for the latest fiscal year but said it was “working with urgency to become current again” with its financial reporting. Retail stocks — Retail stores with China sourcing exposure slipped on Wednesday following Trump’s reelection. Trump’s proposed universal tariffs could lead to soaring import prices. On the back of these tariff fears, Bank of America downgraded Five Below to underperform from neutral and Yeti to a neutral rating from buy. Shares of Five Below and Yeti both tumbled about 7% and 9%, respectively. Dollar Tree and Dollar General also respectively lost roughly 9% and 5%. Planet Fitness — Shares popped about 6% after CNBC, citing court filings, reported the fitness chain wants to acquire bankrupt budget-fitness chain Blink Holdings. Steel stocks — U.S.-based steel stocks rallied on the back of Trump’s victory. He has floated tariffs that would ultimately benefit U.S. steel pricing. Shares of Nucor and Cleveland-Cliffs respectively rallied 16% and 21%, while United States Steel climbed 10%. — CNBC’s Michelle Fox, Alex Harring, Hakyung Kim, Sarah Min and Samantha Subin contributed reporting.
Bitcoin fell below the $79,000 level as investors braced for more financial market volatility after U.S. equites suffered their worst decline since 2020 on the rollout of President Donald Trump’s restrictive global tariffs.
The price of bitcoin was last lower by 4% at $78,835.07, according to Coin Metrics, after trading above the $80,000 for most of this year — barring a couple brief blips below it amid recent volatility. It’s off its January all-time high by about 34%.
Although the flagship cryptocurrency usually trades like a big tech stock and is often viewed by traders as a leading indicator of market sentiment, it bucked the broader market meltdown last week – holding in the $80,000 to $90,000 range and rising to end the week as stocks tumbled and even gold fell.
Other cryptocurrencies suffered bigger losses overnight. Ether and the token tied to Solana tumbled 9% each.
Bitcoin’s down move triggered a wave of long liquidations, as traders betting on an increase in its price were forced to sell their assets to cover their losses. In the past 24 hours, bitcoin has seen more than $181 million in long liquidations, according to CoinGlass. Ether saw $188 million in long liquidations in the same period.
Bitcoin has traded mostly above $80,000 in 2025
Rattled investors dumped their holdings of cryptocurrencies, which trade 24 hours, over the weekend as they anticipated further carnage, after Trump’s retaliatory tariffs raised global recession fears and caused investors to sell all risk.
The duties on all imports, in addition to custom tariffs for major trading partners, have sparked worries of a global trade war that could lead the U.S. into a recession. Growing concerns about the far-reaching impact of the tariffs sent markets reeling worldwide.
In the two sessions following the tariff announcement, global stocks wiped out $7.46 trillion in market value based on the market cap of the S&P Global Broad Market Index, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
That figure includes $5.87 trillion lost in the U.S. stock market over those two sessions and another $1.59 trillion loss in market value in other major global markets.
Bitcoin is down 15% in 2025 and, absent a crypto-specific catalyst, is expected to continue moving in tandem with equities as global recession fears overshadow any regulatory tailwinds crypto was expected to benefit from this year.
Worries about tariffs may have rattled global investors, but analysts still expect China’s technology sector to keep riding this year’s wave of interest in homegrown generative artificial intelligence. The latest salvo of U.S. tariffs on China and its Southeast Asia trading partners sent Chinese stocks tumbling at the open Thursday, but they closed well off their lows. Local markets were closed Friday for a holiday. “Many of the larger tech names (and most of the consumer names) have limited exposure to the U.S. market despite some overreaction at first,” Kai Wang, Asia equity strategist at Morningstar, said in a statement Thursday. “We are expecting some fiscal policy intervention,” he said, “should there be incremental macro weakness.” China’s finance ministry indicated last month it was holding onto some dry powder given domestic and overseas uncertainties. Chinese policymakers are expected to hold a regular meeting later this month. Chinese tech stock valuations still look inexpensive relative to those in the U.S., Citi China equity strategist Pierre Lau and a team said in a report Thursday. They pointed out that average price-to-earnings ratio of seven leading tech-related Chinese stocks is 52% below that of U.S “Magnificent Seven” — not yet recovered to the historical average of 33% in the past five years. “We prefer domestic over export plays amid uncertainties stemming from higher tariffs,” the Citi strategists said. They also prefer services over goods sectors, and also like growth more than value. The firm is overweight on China internet, technology and transportation stock sectors. Citi’s top China stock buys include social media and gaming company Tencent , electric car giant BYD and home appliance company Haier , all listed in Hong Kong. Growing investor interest In a sign of how much investor interest has grown, nearly one-quarter of international investors have turned more positive on Chinese tech, the Citi strategists said, citing the firm’s U.S. marketing work last month. Global emerging markets equity funds’ allocation to China hit a 16-month high in late March , according to EPFR. Chinese startup DeepSeek released an AI model in late January that claimed to outperform OpenAI’s ChatGPT, despite U.S. restrictions on Chinese access to advanced chips for AI training. AI adoption is also expected to help Chinese companies cut costs , while policy aims to support consumer growth. Initial upgrades to Chinese companies’ earnings expectations are being driven by high-tech sectors and selected consumer companies, HSBC analysts pointed out Thursday. An index of 10 major Chinese tech companies traded in Hong Kong closed 1.2% lower Thursday, slightly better than the overall Hang Seng index’s 1.5% drop. The tech index remains more than 20% higher year to date, versus gains of just under 14% for the Hang Seng index. Another sector investment analysts say is relatively sheltered from the new tariffs is Chinese health care as pharmaceuticals were excluded from Trump’s latest round of tariffs. “Even if Trump imposed any tariffs in the future, most Chinese biotechs have U.S. partners and are not considered exporters, and tariffs on bulk drug makers could easily be transferred to downstream U.S. pharma,” Jefferies equity analyst Cui Cui and a team said in a note Wednesday. They also don’t expect reviving targeted legislation, such as the expired Biosecure Act , to become a U.S. priority soon. The Biosecure Act sought to restrict Chinese drug companies such as Wuxi Biologics from federal contracts. “Given that lowering drug prices in the U.S. is supported by both Republicans and Democrats, giving U.S. pharma companies the flexibility to operate efficiently and maintain an optimal cost structure is essential,” the Jefferies analysts said, highlighting expectations that Wuxi Biologics can operate at least twice as efficiently than competitors Samsung Bio and Lonza. Hong Kong-listed Wuxi Biologics said in late March that it expected ” accelerated and profitable growth in 2025 .” Jefferies rates the stock a buy. However, the extent of new U.S. tariffs and impact on China’s economy remains unclear. Morningstar’s Wang cautioned that tariffs would indirectly affect the tech sector given the likely negative impact on China’s gross domestic product, while market volatility may increase.
Warren Buffett went on the record Friday to deny social media posts after President Donald Trump shared on Truth Social a fan video that claimed the president is tanking the stock market on purpose with the endorsement of the legendary investor.
Trump on Friday shared an outlandish social media video that defends his recent policy decisions by arguing he is deliberately taking down the market as a strategic play to force lower interest and mortgage rates.
“Trump is crashing the stock market by 20% this month, but he’s doing it on purpose,” alleged the video, which Trump posted on his Truth Social account.
The video’s narrator then falsely states, “And this is why Warren Buffett just said, ‘Trump is making the best economic moves he’s seen in over 50 years.'”
The president shared a link to an X post from the account @AmericaPapaBear, a self-described “Trumper to the end.” The X post itself appears to be a repost of a weeks-old TikTok video from user @wnnsa11. The video has been shared more than 2,000 times on Truth Social and nearly 10,000 times on X.
Buffett, 94, didn’t single out any specific posts, but his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway outright rejected all comments claimed to be made by him.
“There are reports currently circulating on social media (including Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok) regarding comments allegedly made by Warren E. Buffett. All such reports are false,” the company said in a statement Friday.
CNBC’s Becky Quick spoke to Buffett Friday about this statement and he said he wanted to knock down misinformation in an age where false rumors can be blasted around instantaneously. Buffett told Quick that he won’t make any commentary related to the markets, the economy or tariffs between now and Berkshire’s annual meeting on May 3.
‘A tax on goods’
While Buffett hasn’t spoken about this week’s imposition of sweeping tariffs from the Trump administration, his view on such things has pretty much always been negative. Just in March, the Berkshire CEO and chairman called tariffs “an act of war, to some degree.”
“Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the tooth fairy doesn’t pay ’em!” Buffett said in the news interview with a laugh. “And then what? You always have to ask that question in economics. You always say, ‘And then what?'”
During Trump’s first term, Buffett opined at length in 2018 and 2019 about the trade conflicts that erupted, warning that the Republican’s aggressive moves could cause negative consequences globally.
“If we actually have a trade war, it will be bad for the whole world … everything intersects in the world,” Buffett said in a CNBC interview in 2019. “A world that adjusts to something very close to free trade … more people will live better than in a world with significant tariffs and shifting tariffs over time.”
Buffett has been in a defensive mode over the past year as he rapidly dumped stocks and raised a record amount of cash exceeding $300 billion. His conglomerate has a big U.S. focus and has large businesses in insurance, railroads, manufacturing, energy and retail.