White House Cautions Against Over-Interpretation of Stock Market Plunge: "Different from Corporate Situation"

# White House Seeks to Temper Market Fears Amid Stock Plunge Washington—New York Stock Exchange plunged on the 10th (local time) due to fears of a U.S. economic recession. The White House, however, cautioned against overinterpreting the drop, emphasizing a distinction between investor sentiment and the actual state of businesses. According to the White House press pool, a White House official responded to questions about the market's performance by stating, "We want to stress that there is a clear difference between the animal spirits of the stock market [investor sentiment] and the actual situation of businesses and business leaders." The official further highlighted that for the mid-to-long term outlook of the economy, the latter is more significant than the former. Despite the sharp decline in the stock market, this view suggests that the actual economic conditions remain stable and that there are no significant long-term threats to the economy. On this day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 2.08% compared to the previous trading day at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The S&P 500 index, focused on large-cap stocks, plunged by 2.69%. Notably, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index saw an intraday drop of over 5%, closing with a 4.00% loss, marking its worst day since September 2022. The ongoing aggressive tariff policies by President Donald Trump, coupled with his remarks during a Fox News interview aired the previous day—where he didn't rule out the possibility of a recession and referred to the current period as a "time of transition"—also appeared to have contributed to the market's downturn.