Wall Street wild ride: Fake news triggers swing worth trillions of dollars in US stock markets within 30 minutes

US markets witnessed a highly volatile sequence of events on April 7 as investors gained and lost trillions of dollars in a span of 30 minutes. The uncertainty on the future of the US’s trade and economic prospects unnerved investors as they grappled with the stock market meltdown in asset prices across the board.

Monday witnessed one of the sharpest falls in the Asian markets as Japanese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong indices hit their circuit levels, before paring some losses in the closing hours.

Taking cues from the sharp plunge in Asian markets, US markets too opened lower, but soon after they witnessed wild swings led by rumours and speculation, which gained and erased trillions of dollars in 30 minutes.

Here’s how the sequence of events played out on April 7, 2025.

Dow Jones opened 400 points lower on Monday

Taking cues from last week’s fall and overtly bearish sentiment and outlook on the economic prospects, US markets opened nearly 400 points lower at 37,879 on Monday and plunged nearly 1,700 points soon after that 36,611 from Friday’s close. Similarly, NASDAQ and S&P500 opened more than 5% lower on Monday. The sharp fall on Monday was led by amplifying fears of the global trade war and recession.

Rumours spread of delay in tariff imposition

At 9:43 ET, the Dow Jones hit the intraday low of 36,611, falling more than 1500 points from Friday’s close. However, a rumour surfaced that the Trump administration is expected to consider a 90-day relief in tariff imposition. The rumour was highlighted by media houses, which boosted the animal spirits, and markets started to reverse all the opening losses. Soon after the rumour surfaced, Dow Jones jumped more than 2,500 points from the intraday low levels and traded in green. The sharp rally from lower levels added nearly $3 trillion to the market cap of the index, making investors richer by $3 trillion. Similarly, NASDAQ too jumped more than 4% from the intraday lows, led by strong buying in tech stocks like Nvidia, Palantir and others.

Rumours got busted, and markets reversed

After rallying more than 2,500 points from the low, Dow Jones fell more than 1500 points within five minutes after the humungous rally. White House officials dismissed the delay rumours and called it fake news. The news killed all the animal spirits in the markets and reversed the market sentiment to bearish. The fall erased almost $2.5 trillion from the market cap within 15 minutes as the Dow Jones traded near day-low levels of 37,290 after hitting a high of 39,200. The selling intensified further after Trump threatened to impose additional 50% tariffs on China if they fail to withdraw the retaliatory 34% tariffs on the US.

Markets end in mixed in closing hours

After witnessing high volatile trade, the US markets closed mixed as Dow Jones and S&P500 ended in the red and NASDAQ managed to close in the green. On the sidelines, the EU president, Ursula von der Leyen, announced the European Union’s willingness to negotiate with the US and offer zero-for-zero tariffs on certain goods. The NASDAQ closed 0.1% higher at 16,547, and the Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed 0.6% and 0.9% lower on Monday.

What lies ahead?

In summary, the US markets witnessed nearly 8% moves from low to high in 15 minutes and a sharp reversal in 15 minutes after that, erasing a chunk of investors' and traders' money. To put things in context, Wall Street gained and lost the value worth 60% of India’s GDP in a matter of 30 minutes. Experts believe such high volatile days may be experienced more in coming days as uncertainty over tariffs and their implications looms over the global economy.