How fake news about tariffs posted on Elon Musks X shifted trillions in the markets

Market analysts braced for a potential repeat of "Black Monday" over the weekend — a crash of such magnitude it was being compared to the infamous 1987 global financial meltdown. While President Trump’s tariffs continued to weigh on the stock market, a full-blown crash never materialized.

Interestingly, one key factor in averting disaster may have been misinformation from an obscure account on Elon Musk’s X.

Walter Bloomberg

When the stock market opened on Monday, it was heading straight for a decline — but then, a sudden 10 percent surge defied expectations. Analysts were left wondering: What caused this turnaround?

The answer seemed to lie in reports that the White House was considering a 90-day pause on President Trump’s tariffs. The initial claim was attributed to Trump’s economic advisor, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, but no one could verify where he had said it. Instead, the report appeared to have gained traction through a post on X by an account named Walter Bloomberg, which has over 850,000 followers.

"Trump is considering a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except China," Walter Bloomberg posted in all-caps alongside an alarm emoji.

It turns out that this wasn't true. The White House quickly dispelled these reports, calling them "fake news."

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Despite the correction, the damage was done: the market had reacted to the false report, sparking the unexpected rally.

Walter Bloomberg, who is unaffiliated with the financial media company Bloomberg, is known for posting Bloomberg Terminal-style headlines throughout the day on his X account @DeItaone (note: the third letter in his handle is a capital "I," not a lowercase "l"). With a paid blue checkmark and a rapidly growing following, many users appear to have mistaken Walter Bloomberg for a legitimate news source.

It remains unclear where Walter Bloomberg got his information. In a reply to another user on X, he claimed to have seen the news on Reuters, but as Guardian journalist Robert Mackey pointed out, the timing didn’t add up — Reuters’ story was published after Walter Bloomberg’s post.

Hammer Capital

While the Walter Bloomberg post was likely the biggest misinformation spreader, numerous reports, like one from CNN, found that the first mention of this false news came from the X account @yourfavorito, which goes by the name Hammer Capital. The account has less than 1,000 followers. However, it does have the paid blue checkmark, which likely led some users to believe it was a credible source. In response to inquiries, Hammer Capital claimed to have gotten the story from CNBC, but again, the timing of CNBC’s headline did not match the original X posts.

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So how did this all start? The most plausible explanation is that the misinformation stemmed from a misinterpretation of an interview with Hassett, who appeared on Fox News earlier that day. Reporter Aaron Rupar had clipped a portion of the interview, and in the rush to report it as news, X users may have misunderstood the quotes. Notably, the full clip didn’t leave room for the same misinterpretation.

It’s also possible that these X accounts fabricated the misinformation entirely. Since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter (now X) and the subsequent changes to the platform's verification system — allowing anyone to purchase a blue checkmark for $8 per month — the platform has become a hotbed for misinformation.

Regardless of the origin, the impact of this fake news was undeniable. The false tariff report played a significant role in reversing the market’s trajectory on Monday.