That followed a filing in which Delta said its revenues were being affected “by the recent reduction in consumer and corporate confidence caused by increased macro uncertainty, driving softness in Domestic demand.”
Finally, Southwest Airlines slashed its earnings guidance for the rest of the year.
Investors are throttling back their expectations for stocks amid growing uncertainty and as Trump signals he will be less focused on equities than in his first term. It is a sea change from the approach he took in his first term, when he was fixated on markets as a real-time barometer of his success.
A White House spokesperson said Tuesday the market losses merely represented “a snapshot of a moment of time.”
“As President Trump has said … we are in a period of economic transition. We are in a period of transition from the mess that was created under Joe Biden.”
Trump later said Tuesday that he foresaw no recession and that the United States was going to “blow it away.”
Trump is leaning less on market sentiment at a time when markets’ performance is set to be noticeably weaker. Early Monday, analysts with Citigroup downgraded their rating of U.S. stocks from “overweight” to “neutral,” saying the exceptionalism of U.S. firms’ financial performance looks to be “pausing” amid weaker jobs growth, as well as a short-term momentum loss for artificial intelligence investments. It was the second major downgrade from a Wall Street firm in as many days, with HSBC making the same call Monday.
And Barclays analysts issued new guidance that the picture for U.S. stocks is rapidly changing.
“The U.S. economy is clearly softening, despite an OK jobs report. … US equities have de-rated quickly, but don’t depend on a ‘Trump Put’ yet,” they said.
Investors got another piece of worrisome news Monday, when the National Federation of Independent Business reported its monthly small-business optimism survey showed a decline in February, though the index remained above the 51-year average for a fourth consecutive month.
“Uncertainty is high and rising on Main Street, and for many reasons,” NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said in a release. “Those small business owners expecting better business conditions in the next six months dropped and the percent viewing the current period as a good time to expand fell, but remains well above where it was in the fall. Inflation remains a major problem, ranked second behind the top problem, labor quality.”
Trump was set to meet with U.S. executives at the Washington-based Business Roundtable later Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported. Investors will be looking to see whether he gives any new guidance about his tariffs or broader economic policy objectives.
Wednesday could prove a further turning point in markets’ trajectories: The Bureau of Labor Statistics will report consumer inflation data for February. Forecasts are for a slightly softer reading compared with January — meaning price growth would have slowed — but any deviation could ripple through markets.
