Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Short-lived
2. Ready, set, tariff
President Donald Trump speaks on the day he signs energy-related executive orders, at the White House in Washington, April 8, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
3. As American as Apple pie?
The Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York, US, on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025.Â
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Shares of Apple have plunged 23% over the past four trading sessions amid fears that tariffs — specifically those on China, where Apple does the majority of its manufacturing — will raise the price of its iPhones. White House officials have said President Trump believes the tech giant can make its phones in the U.S., but experts aren’t so sure. “I don’t think that’s a thing,” Needham analyst Laura Martin told CNBC Tuesday, adding that reshoring iPhone manufacturing would take years and cause the price of iPhones to skyrocket. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said last week that an iPhone would cost $3,500 if produced in the U.S. Shares of Apple sank another 5% Tuesday, putting Microsoft back on top as the world’s most valuable company.
4. (Real) help wanted
A “Now Hiring” sign is displayed on a shopfront on October 21, 2022 in New York City.
Leonardo Munoz | View Press | Corbis News | Getty Images
Hiring? That too-good-to-be-true application might be just that. Scammers are using artificial intelligence to apply for remote jobs at U.S. companies, with cybersecurity and cryptocurrency firms in particular seeing a recent surge in fake job seekers. In one instance, an applicant for a position at voice authentication startup Pindrop Security used deepfake AI technology to mask his face, Pindrop CEO and co-founder Vijay Balasubramaniyan told CNBC. “We are no longer able to trust our eyes and ears,” Balasubramaniyan said. Once hired, imposters can steal data, secrets or funds from the company, or install malware and demand a ransom. By 2028, 1 in 4 job candidates globally will be fake, according to research and advisory firm Gartner.
5. ‘The wrong approach’
Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Airlines, speaking on CNBC’s Power Lunch on Dec. 17th, 2024.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Delta Air Lines on Wednesday cut its growth plans and said it could not reaffirm its full-year financial guidance, citing disappointing bookings amid Trump’s tariffs, which CEO Ed Bastian called “the wrong approach.” The airline began the year on a high note, forecasting another year of strong demand, but Bastian said demand began slowing in mid-February. “In the last six weeks, we’ve seen a corresponding reduction in broad consumer confidence and corporate confidence,” Bastian told CNBC. Delta beat earnings expectations for the first quarter and reported quarterly revenue in line with Wall Street’s estimates. The carrier cut its first-quarter earnings outlook in March on weaker domestic travel demand.
— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Sean Conlon, Brian Evans, Dan Mangan, Kevin Breuninger, John Melloy, Ruxandra Iordache, Christina Wilkie, Erin Doherty, Jordan Novet, Alex Harring, Kif Leswing, Hugh Son and Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
