• A tourism helicopter crashed in the Hudson River on Thursday, killing three adults and three children.
• A Siemens executive, his wife, and their three children were among the dead, a company spokesperson said.
• The NTSB said the aircraft was not equipped with any flight recorders and was on its eighth flight of the day.

The National Transportation Safety Board said on Saturday that the helicopter involved in a crash that killed six people in New York earlier this week was not equipped with any flight recorders and that the accident occurred during the aircraft's eighth flight of the day.

"No onboard video recorders or camera recorders have been recovered and none of the helicopter avionics onboard recorded information that could be used for the investigation," the NTSB said in an update.

It added that the helicopter had completed seven tour flights on the day of the crash and that its last "major" inspection took place on March 1.

A Siemens executive, his wife, their three children, and a pilot were killed when a tourism helicopter plummeted into the Hudson River near Manhattan on Thursday.

Agustín Escobar, 49, had been the global CEO of the rail unit for Siemens Mobility. His wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, also worked for the company as the global commercialization manager for its energy division.

"We are deeply saddened by the tragic helicopter crash in which Agustin Escobar and his family lost their lives. Our heartfelt condolences go out to all their loved ones," a Siemens spokesperson said on Friday.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams told a press conference on Thursday night that four people were pronounced dead at the scene, and two were taken to the hospital where they later died.

The pilot, who has been identified as US Navy veteran Sean Johnson, was the other victim.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the helicopter involved was a Bell 206, and that the NTSB would lead the investigation.

The NTSB said on X that it was "launching a go-team" to investigate the crash.

Videos posted on social media appeared to show the helicopter's rotor disconnected from the rest of the aircraft, spinning mid-air as the cabin plunged into the water.

Officials said that it appeared the helicopter, which was operated by New York Helicopters Tour Company, had lost control.

In a statement Friday, New York Helicopter Tours said it was "profoundly saddened by the tragic accident and loss of life that occurred on April 10, 2025, involving one of our helicopters in the Hudson River."

"The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew has always been the cornerstone of our operations. Our immediate focus is supporting the families and their loved ones affected by this tragedy, as well as fully cooperating with the FAA and NTSB investigations," it continued.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Calls to the helicopter's registered owner, a Louisiana firm, were unanswered.

The NTSB said Saturday that the helicopter's main fuselage, the forward portion of the tail boom, the horizontal stabilizer finlets, and the vertical fin had been recovered, but that divers were continuing to search for the main rotor, main gear box, tail rotor, and a large section of the tail boom.

A recent spate of plane crashes has raised awareness of aviation safety.

The Hudson River sees heavy helicopter traffic between airports and tourist flights over landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty. Pilots are required to use specific corridors.

In 2018, five people died after a helicopter made an emergency landing in the East River and flipped upside down, trapping the passengers inside.

The following year a helicopter crash-landed on the roof of a skyscraper, killing the pilot.

• China raised tariffs on US goods to 84% on Wednesday.
• The move follows President Donald Trump's decision to further increase tariffs on imports from China.
• The European Union announced its first retaliatory tariffs affecting US goods worth about $23 billion.

China imposed 84% tariffs on US imports and Europe made its first move on Wednesday as the global trade war escalated.

The measures follow President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs against trade partners, including imposing cumulative 104% charges on Chinese goods.

Beijing retaliated after the US tariffs took effect on Wednesday. Its charges will be imposed from Thursday, a government statement said.

"China urges the US to immediately correct its wrong practices, cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China, and properly resolve differences with China through equal dialogue on the basis of mutual respect," the statement said.

The announcement pushed European stock markets lower, but the S&P 500 posted early gains.

The European Union announced its first retaliatory tariffs after the US imposed 25% levies on EU steel and aluminum exports last month.

The tariffs on US goods worth about $23 billion will take effect this month and target products such as soybeans, diamonds, and poultry.

Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said China had sent a "clear signal" that it intended to maintain its stance despite the higher US tariffs.

"China can afford to wait. I don't expect a quick and easy way out from the current trade conflict," Zhang said. "The damage to the two economies will become visible soon. The outlook for international trade and global economic growth is highly uncertain."

On Tuesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "China also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don't know how to get it started. We are waiting for their call."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business on Wednesday that China's reluctance to negotiate was "unfortunate" and said it had the "most imbalanced economy in the history of the modern world."

Beijing vowed on Tuesday to "fight to the end."

"Judging from its actions, the US doesn't seem to be serious about having talks right now," said Lin Jian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson.

"If the US truly wants to talk, it should let people see that they're ready to treat others with equality, respect and mutual benefit."

Narrow path

Analysts are bracing for a long standoff between the two mega economies.

"We see a narrow path to resolution for the ongoing tariff gridlock between the US and China as well," wrote Yeap Jun Rong, a market strategist at IG.

"Even if negotiations resume in the future, reaching a consensus may prove difficult, suggesting that trade tensions could persist for an extended period."

Marc Rowan, the CEO of Apollo, told CNBC he expected the Trump administration to reach agreements on tariffs with the "vast majority" of trading partners.

• Some investors seek safe-haven assets in troubled times such as the current tariff-induced market turmoil.
• Gold hit record highs this year, with Bank of America maintaining its target of $3,500 an ounce.
• US dollar weakness and turmoil in bond markets indicate some doubts over their safe-haven status.

The turmoil engulfing global stock markets in recent days has prompted some investors to seek out "safe-haven" assets that typically maintain their value during periods of market turbulence.

Here's some of the main safe-haven assets and how "safe" they're proving in the market turmoil.

1. Gold

Gold prices hit record highs above the $3,000 threshold for the first time last month as fears of an economic downturn, tariff uncertainty, and purchases by central banks drove up demand.

The metal hit almost $3,150 at the end of March but has since retreated to just above $3,000.

John Reade, senior market strategist at the World Gold Council, told Business Insider that gold's rally this year was evidence of its enduring status as a safe-haven asset, and that the recent dips had not changed that.

Analysts at the Bank of America, led by Michael Widmer, said in a note on Sunday they maintained a price target of $3,500 for gold.

"Not all of President Trump's economic policies are fully compatible and rising policy uncertainty has been accompanied by higher gold prices," they said. "With the US becoming more inward-looking, there is also a risk that de-dollarization will continue, which should help the yellow metal."

2. Currencies

Certain currencies including the US dollar are usually considered to be safe havens in troubled times. However, some investors are seeking alternatives to the greenback after it plunged following Trump's tariff announcements.

The dollar's failure to strengthen means its status may be under threat, wrote Deutsche Bank's George Saravelos in a recent note.

Factors include the US current account deficit breaching the 4% threshold in recent months and the declining correlation between the dollar and risk assets.

UBS analysts said on Tuesday the dollar index has fallen about 1% in April despite the market volatility.

"Over the medium term, we believe a more sustained period of weakness for the US dollar is likely if the Fed cuts interest rates faster than expected in response to weakness in US economic growth. In addition, we believe that the uncertainty may lead some market participants to diversify long-held and profitable dollar asset exposures."

Investors often turn to the Japanese yen and Swiss franc, which have both rallied this month.

"The yen is seen as a safe haven asset because Japan is one of the world's largest creditors," Jason DeLorenzo, owner and principal of investment advisor Ad Deum Funds, told BI. "When there's global turmoil, the Japanese will repatriate to the yen, and it appreciates."

3. Treasurys

Treasurys are bonds issued by the US Government. They're regarded as one of the safest investments available "because they reliably pay an interest rate that is seen as risk-free," DeLorenzo said.

David Weild, the former vice-chairman of Nasdaq, told BI that economic turmoil reduces the value of most asset classes except bonds issued by rock-solid nations such as the US.

"If you looked at what happened in the wake of 2008, the only thing that rallied in that case was the Treasurys," he said.

Some even had a negative yield, or interest rate. "That was a sign that everybody was thinking that the banking system was insolvent and that they had to keep their money someplace where they could get it back — and that was buying T-bills," Wield said.

Davide Accomazzo, instructor of finance at the Graziadio Business School of Pepperdine University, said the "go-to safe investments" in volatile times have traditionally been Treasurys, but that may not be the case for much longer.

"The proposed set of new policies might hurt the economy and generate inflation as well, a most unwelcome result," he said. "Bonds fare well in economic slowdowns, but rather badly during inflationary times."

On Wednesday Treasury markets were experiencing what Deutsche Bank analysts called an "incredibly aggressive selloff" that added "to the evidence that they're losing their traditional haven status."

The yield on 30-year bonds jumped again to 4.96% following the fastest increase since March 2020 over the past two trading sessions. The return on 10-year Treasurys hit

"There's no sign yet that the market is managing to successfully find a bottom, and it feels like no asset class has been spared as investors continue to price in a growing probability of a US recession," the Deutsche analysts wrote.

4. Defensive stocks

Defensive stocks are companies that generally have stable performance regardless of the economic situation, because they sell goods or provide services that consumers will keep needing to buy.

Costco is one example. The retailer's stock has fallen in the past five days at Tuesday's close, but by just 4% and is almost flat for the year. The stock is faring better than Walmart, which is down 7.3% over the past five days and almost 10% this year, while Amazon's declines total 9% and 22% respectively.

5. Cash

Last but not least, there's cash — and even that has some downsides.

"Cash is seen as a safe haven because if you have money that isn't invested, it can't lose," DeLorenzo said. "However, if assets increase in value, your cash doesn't, and that implicitly subjects your cash to losing value. Also, inflation hurts cash assets."

For Accomazzo, cash offers a respectable yield and no volatility, but he also likes bonds.

"Despite their negative correlation to inflation, bonds might just be the better option on an intermediate horizon given current good yields and a shot at principal appreciation if rates ultimately come down," he said.

• Rachel Cohen publicly quit her Big Law job over her firm's response to Trump.
• Cohen said she called her parents for advice before sending the resignation letter she later posted online.
• She said she had tried "everything else possible to not torch a career."

Rachel Cohen, who quit Big Law over her firm's response to Donald Trump's battle with the profession, said she called her parents before quitting to be sure she was doing the right thing.

Cohen quit Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in March and posted her resignation letter on LinkedIn. She said she was quitting because she believed the firm had not responded properly to Trump's threats against firms.

In an episode of the "Rapid Response" podcast released Tuesday, Cohen said she first called her parents for advice, saying she wanted to be sure she'd done "everything else possible to not torch a career."

Cohen described her parents as "white people who live in Ohio, who have a lot of faith in systems," and said that they were former lawyers who worked as Judge Advocate General's Corps attorneys in the Air Force.

"I said, 'I am not calling to ask if this action might get me fired. I'm calling to ask, does it feel unfair? Is there something else I should exhaust first?" Cohen said. She didn't say what their response was.

Cohen said that before resigning, she reached out internally to "people in management" at Skadden to ask how she could help with what she expected would be an "industry-wide response" to Trump's executive orders against Big Law firms.

She said she received a response thanking her for her perspective. Skadden did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Cohen also helped circulate an open letter among associates at top firms condemning their employers for inaction and started making some media appearances to discuss the situation.

Her decision to resign came after Paul Weiss, another elite law firm, agreed to a list of demands in exchange for Trump rescinding his executive order against the firm.

"I'm thinking what's the next proactive step? And I went home and then outlined, what are my asks for the firm? What should we be doing?" Cohen said.

In her resignation letter, Cohen said she would not leave if Skadden provided a "satisfactory response to the current moment."

Trump has targeted law firms he views as aligned with his political opponents by revoking their security clearances and calling for a review of their government contracts.

Several Big Law firms, including Skadden, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and Paul Weiss, have cut deals with the President to protect their business, prompting accusations from legal professionals that they are capitulating to Trump.

Other firms, like Perkins Coie, have challenged the administration's directives, alleging in lawsuits that the executive orders are intended to chill free speech and deter clients from doing business with them.

More than 500 law firms have signed a brief denouncing Trump's targeting of Perkins Coie and saying they must join together to "preserve the integrity of the American legal system."

Cohen has remained vocal on social media about the ongoing challenges to the legal profession since she quit.

She said on the podcast that she doesn't know what her next career move will be. Cohen did not respond to a request for comment.

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at Polly_Thompson.89. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• US Treasury yields have spiked sharply in recent days.
• Surging US bond yields appear to reflect rising fears about the global economic impact of tariffs.
• US bonds are traditionally considered one of the safest assets, so falling prices are concerning.

US Treasury bond prices have cratered, and yields have spiked sharply in recent days as fears mount about the longer-term impacts of President Donald Trump's escalating trade war around the world.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond has risen around 12% since Monday, briefly climbing above 4.5% by early Wednesday morning. The five-year US Treasury yield has risen 13% in the same time, hitting 4%.

Bonds are loans that investors make to an entity such as a company or government, usually in exchange for interest payments on a set schedule, with the initial investment returned at maturity as well.

Bond yields and prices move inversely, with yields rising and prices falling in times of trouble, reflecting increased risk for investors.

US bonds are traditionally considered to be among the safest of safe-haven assets as the likelihood of a failed repayment by the US government is seen as incredibly unlikely. Investors rushing to sell them off is unusual and generally seen as a sign of market distress.

Treasurys under pressure

Investors selling US bonds come amid worries that President Donald Trump's new tariffs, which came into effect on Wednesday, may lead to rising inflation and increase the chance of a recession.

This, in turn, would likely slow or even halt expected interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank said in a note on Tuesday that the heavy sell-off "spoke to broader concerns about the safety of US assets and their capacity to act as a haven in times of market stress."

There's also market speculation that some of the sell-off may be down to China getting rid of some of its $761 billion US Treasury holdings. In an executive order on Tuesday, Trump raised tariffs on China to 104%.

Lin Jian, Beijing's foreign affairs spokesperson, accused the US of "bullying practices" on Wednesday, soon before China announced retaliatory tariffs of 84% on US goods.

"A trend which will be watched closely is an apparent loss, whether temporary or otherwise, of US assets' safe-haven status. Treasurys sold off heavily amid some speculation China and other parties are dumping their holdings as a retaliatory tool," said Russ Mould of UK-based investment platform AJ Bell.

Fed action

The sell-off in Treasurys has also influenced global bond markets, with UK and Japanese yields climbing since Monday.

George Saravelos, Deutsche Bank's head of FX research, told clients in a note this week that continuing disruption could push the Federal Reserve to buy US bonds to support the market.

Should disruption continue, there would be "no other option for the Fed but to step in with emergency purchases of US Treasurys to stabilize the bond market," Saravelos' team wrote.

"While we suspect the Fed could be successful in stabilizing the market in the short-term, we would argue there is only one thing that can stabilize some of the more medium-term financial market shifts that have been unleashed: a reversal in the policies of the Trump administration itself."

• Delta Air Lines has said global economic uncertainty over tariffs is hurting bookings.
• "Growth has largely stalled," CEO Ed Bastian said in the airline's first-quarter earnings release.
• Delta said it would ax plans to grow flight capacity in the second half of 2025 as a result.

Delta Air Lines warned that Donald Trump's tariff plan is hitting the airline where it hurts.

"With broad economic uncertainty around global trade, growth has largely stalled," CEO Ed Bastian said Wednesday in a statement alongside its first-quarter earnings.

"In this slower-growth environment, we are protecting margins and cash flow by focusing on what we can control," he added.

As well as managing costs and capital spending, Delta has decided not to expand its capacity in the second half of the year, it said. It previously planned to grow by around 4%.

Bastian also told CNBC the airline also had to deal with "a really tough weather month in January" and the impact of high-profile accidents.

The airline reported quarterly revenue of $13 billion, with an operating profit of $591 million. It also reported earnings per share of 46 cents, beating analyst expectations.

In premarket trading, Delta's share price briefly rose as much as 3.5% before turning negative.

Delta expects things to improve in the next quarter, with earnings per share between $1.70 and $2.30 on an operating margin between 11% and 14%.

It said total revenue compared to last year could fall 2% or rise up to 2%.

The company didn't reaffirm financial guidance for the full year, citing "current uncertainty."

"We're in uncharted, unprecedented uncertainty when you look at what's happened and the pivot so quickly to this self-inflicted situation," Bastian said of the tariffs in a CNBC broadcast interview Wednesday morning.

"I think we're acting as if we're going to a recession," he added. "I think everyone is going into a defensive posture."

Airline stocks have been sinking since around late February on concerns about demand falling due to economic uncertainty.

Delta is down 39% since the start of the year — while rivals United and American have fallen 41% and 47%, respectively.

• Jamie Dimon's annual letter to JPMorgan shareholders does not include the word "diversity."
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have faced setbacks since Donald Trump's presidency.
• JPMorgan renamed its DEI program to Diversity, Opportunity & Inclusion last month.

There was a certain word missing from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon's annual letter to shareholders: diversity.

His yearly missive, which is closely watched in the world of finance and investments, dropped Monday and was largely focused on the uncertainty facing the world in 2025.

What it didn't discuss directly, however, was diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Last year, Dimon's letter mentioned "diversity" five times, but this year it didn't appear once. Neither did "inclusion."

DEI initiatives have been under fire in recent months. Since President Donald Trump took office, more companies have rolled back their DEI programs.

In January, Dimon voiced his continued support for the bank's DEI work, defending it against anti-diversity activists who appeared to be targeting it. Two months later, JPMorgan renamed its program to "Diversity, Opportunity & Inclusion (DOI)," according to an internal memo seen by Business Insider.

In Dimon's Monday letter to shareholders, he used the phrase "equal opportunity" numerous times and cited one of America's founding ideals, that it is a nation "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. "

"Our values transcend any political stance — libertarian, conservative, progressive, Democrat or Republican. We need to believe in ourselves and get back to work (in the office!), not tear each other down," he wrote.

Changes from 2024's letter

In addition to frequent mentions of diversity, 2024's letter featured a subheading that read "our extensive community outreach efforts, including diversity, equity and inclusion" under an "update on specific issues facing our company" chapter.

"We believe — and we are unashamed about this — that it is our obligation to help lift up the communities and countries in which we do business," Dimon wrote last year.

Dimon then listed 12 initiatives led by JPMorgan to reach that goal, including "Women on the Move," an organization that empowers women in their careers; "Advancing Black Pathways," a program that supports Black Americans; and "Entrepreneurs of Color," a lending program for small business owners.

None of these programs were specifically mentioned in 2025's letter, and just one paragraph directly mentioned Black, Hispanic, and Latino communities.

"We expanded our $5,000 Chase Homebuyer Grant program to include more than 15,000 majority Black, Hispanic, and Latino communities (where the grant is available to all)," it said.

The letter added that Chase operates 19 community centers and branches that are "often located in areas with larger Black, Hispanic or Latino populations" as part of the bank's localized investments initiative.

Asked for comment, JPMorgan directed BI to a letter to clients from COO Jennifer Piepszak in which she emphasized the bank's "belief in the power of a diverse workforce."

• President Donald Trump's tariffs could have consequences for the current world order, Deutsche Bank said.
• The bank's researchers said US stocks are deeply exposed to a global trade war.
• If Trump doubles down there will be "immense global implications" for years to come, they said.

The stock market, the economy, and the entire world order are at risk if President Donald Trump forges ahead with his tariff plans, Deutsche Bank says.

Trump's announcement last week of at least 10% tariffs on goods from almost all foreign nations — and duties exceeding 50% in some cases — sent shockwaves through global markets.

The president has stood by his plan to improve America's trading terms with its partners despite broad backlash and threats of retaliation from other world leaders. The result has been the fourth-worst two-day decline for stocks since World War II, the bank's researchers said in a note published Monday, when global stocks were deep in the red again.

Jim Reid, Deutsche's global head of macro and thematic research, and his coauthors described Trump's tariff rollout as the "biggest shock to the global trading system" since the 1970s and the "largest tax increase for the US consumer" since the Vietnam War.

They underscored that the existing trade regime has correlated with ballooning US wealth, as companies and their shareholders have benefited from better supply chains, a broader marketplace, and access to cheaper labor in emerging countries. Ending it could raise costs for companies and narrow their profit margins, weighing on their stock prices.

"US equities have arguably been the ultimate beneficiary of this era and as such have a disproportionate amount to lose by its unravelling, especially when starting valuations have been so high," they said.

Deutsche Bank's economists most recently forecast less than 1% growth this year, unemployment approaching 5%, and a spike in core inflation toward 4%.

"Given the market moves and monumental uncertainty in recent days, this could well prove to be too optimistic," the bank's researchers said, adding that Trump's intransigence has paved the way for further market chaos.

They added that if Trump doesn't find an "elegant off-ramp" but instead "doubles down," that would have "immense global implications for 2025 and the years and decades ahead."

That's because if international trade deals fall apart, it will affect America's relationships with respect to "defense, geopolitics and the multi-lateral rules-based world order," they said.

UBS economists also sounded the alarm on Monday. Assuming the tariffs aren't negotiated down, they now expect real US GDP growth of 0.4% this year — down from 1.6% — and 2.2% price growth with core inflation at 4.6% by the end of this year.

They also predicted the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates by 1 percentage point this year to shore up economic growth.

• Trump's auto tariffs are now live — and they're causing major disruption for manufacturers.
• Automakers are scrambling to react, with one analyst describing them as "a debacle of epic proportions."
• Another says Tesla is "well positioned" to handle the fallout and may benefit if rivals raise prices.

Automakers are facing major disruption as President Donald Trump's tariffs grip the industry.

Ford, Nissan, and Stellantis are all making major changes as they grapple with the levies, with one analyst describing the 25% tariffs on imported cars as a "debacle of epic proportions" for the industry.

"We believe the price impacts from this head-scratching tariff slate could result in demand destruction of 15%-20% in 2025 for new auto purchases alone based on our estimates," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note on Sunday.

"The tariffs are a debacle of epic proportions for the auto industry and US consumers as the concept of a US-made car with all US parts is a fairy tale fictional narrative."

The disruption has continued as automakers have been hit hard by the market chaos surrounding Trump's reciprocal tariffs, with shares in Japanese and European carmakers falling again on Monday.

Nissan fell 9.3% and Toyota dropped 5.9% in Tokyo, while in Frankfurt Volkswagen dipped 4.6% in afternoon trading and Stellantis fell almost 6% in Milan. Stock in the Jeep and Citroën owner has sunk by more than a third this year.

The 25% levy on imported vehicles, which went into effect last week, is already sending shockwaves through the industry.

Nissan announced on Thursday that it would stop taking US orders for two Infiniti SUVs, which are made in Mexico, while Volkswagen said it would add an "import fee" to the prices of vehicles hit by the tariffs.

Jeep and RAM owner Stellantis confirmed on Thursday it had paused production at two factories in Mexico and Canada and furloughed 900 workers at factories in Michigan and Indiana as it navigates the tariff turmoil.

Some automakers are attempting to take advantage of the chaos. Ford announced last week it would extend employee pricing to all customers in an attempt to drive sales, while Stellantis followed suit on Friday.

Analysts and automakers have warned that the tariffs will hike already-high new car prices and erase profits, with S&P Global estimating more than 20% of new light vehicles sold in the US are built in Mexico and Canada.

Some manufacturers may fare better than others.

In a Sunday note, Stifel analyst Stephen Gengaro said that Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid are "well positioned" thanks to their US-based supply chains, adding that Tesla could even benefit if rivals of Elon Musk's company choose to raise prices because of tariffs.

However, Tesla was "obviously not immune to slower economic growth and a weaker consumer," Gengaro wrote.

• Warren Buffett socked away $321 billion while waiting for stocks to crash like they did Thursday.
• The legendary investor specializes in buying cut-price assets during periods of market panic.
• Buffett gurus told BI the billionaire may wait for lower prices or a clearer outlook before buying.

Warren Buffett famously says to "be greedy when others are fearful" and "when it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble." The legendary bargain hunter has been waiting years for stocks to crash like they did on Thursday — but he might not be buying yet.

President Donald Trump's declaration of a near-universal 10% tariff on foreign goods, and even steeper import taxes for the "worst offenders" such as China, vaporized $2.4 trillion or nearly a Nvidia's worth of market value from the S&P 500 on Thursday. The benchmark stock index tumbled further on Friday.

Some of Buffett's favorite stocks got spanked with Apple, American Express, Bank of America, and Occidental Petroleum all tumbling more than 9%.

Buffett didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The downturn is likely to hearten the Berkshire Hathaway CEO, given he's a value investor who seeks to buy businesses at a discount to their worth. He's also known to capitalize on crises, for example when he deployed a full $26 billion across five deals between 2008 and 2009.

Buffett wrote in his 2017 shareholder letter that sharp sell-offs can create "extraordinary opportunities" for investors who heed poet Rudyard Kipling's words to "keep your head when all about you are losing theirs."

However, surging valuations have priced him out of buying stocks, acquiring businesses, and even repurchasing his own company's stock in recent years.

Buffett, 94, has also offloaded a net $158 billion of stocks over the past two calendar years. Berkshire's cash pile has roughly tripled from under $110 billion in September 2022 to $321 billion at the end of 2024 — that's bigger than Coca-Cola's market value.

Armed with an overflowing war chest, Buffett appears well-placed to wade into the market rout and scoop up stocks on the cheap. The internet certainly agrees — social media is rife with comments and memes about Buffett sitting pretty while markets are in chaos.

Wall Street has also rewarded Buffett's cash hoarding: Berkshire's stock price is up about 15% this year, trouncing the S&P's near-11% decline.

The share surge has added $23 billion to Buffett's personal fortune and vaulted him past the likes of LVMH's Bernard Arnault and Oracle's Larry Ellison into fourth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Yet the famously patient and disciplined investor might wait longer before pouncing.

"When prices fall, it certainly encourages Buffett to buy unless he views new permanent damage greater than the price discount," Steven Check told Business Insider. He oversees $2 billion of assets as the CEO of Check Capital Management and has attended every in-person Berkshire annual meeting since 1996.

Stocks may be cheaper than before, but Check said Buffett will likely "require a much larger drop to do significant buying."

Waiting game

Buffett's followers will likely have to wait until Berkshire's meeting in May or its second-quarter portfolio update in August to learn whether the investor topped up his holdings this week.

Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University who's been teaching Buffett-style valuation to students for decades, told BI he's "watching his next move with the most careful and anxious attention" as it will "tell us a great deal about where he thinks the economy is going."

"If he plunges into the market and starts buying, it will signal that he believes the Trump tariffs were nothing more than a minor economic annoyance that created wonderful buying opportunities," he said. Hanke is a former economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan and was the president of Toronto Trust Argentina when it was the world's best-performing mutual fund in 1995.

If Buffett holds off, Hanke said it would suggest he's keeping in mind the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of March 1930, which "broke the back of the stock market, and helped to plunge the world into the Great Depression."

Hanke's "tentative guess" is that Buffett's knowledge of economic history will lead him to "remain on the sidelines, at least for a while" until the scope of what he's dealing with grows clearer.

If the frantic selling in markets continues, Buffett's moment might come sooner rather than later.

• A Virgin Atlantic flight diverted halfway through its journey from London to Mumbai.
• The Airbus A350 landed at an airport in Turkey and didn't take off for another 40 hours.
• Passengers spent the first night in the departure lounge before hotels could be arranged.

Airline passengers have been delayed nearly two days after a medical emergency forced an unexpected stopover.

Virgin Atlantic Flight 358 took off from London Heathrow Airport at midday Wednesday and was scheduled to land in Mumbai around nine hours later.

However, data from Flightradar24 shows the Airbus A350 turned around over Turkey four hours into the journey.

It diverted to Diyarbakır Airport, which is also used as a military base and doesn't usually accommodate large, wide-body planes like the A350.

The airport is around 2,300 miles as the crow flies from Mumbai and 2,100 miles from London.

An airline spokesperson told Business Insider that one of the passengers was severely unwell and was helped by local medical teams after leaving the plane.

The A350 also required technical inspections, which appear to have exacerbated the delay.

Some passengers took to X to complain about the ordeal, sharing a video of the disgruntled crowd.

One user said that 12 hours after landing, passengers were yet to receive "proper food or accommodation."

In an X post, the airline said customers had to stay in the departure lounge overnight because it was outside the airport's operating hours — while refreshments, including water, were provided.

There were also difficulties with immigration requirements before airport authorities "made an exception to allow passengers to leave the airport temporarily," another post from the airline said.

"The majority of our customers were provided with overnight hotel accommodation ahead of their onward journey today," the Virgin Atlantic spokesperson told BI Friday. "We'd like to sincerely apologize for the delay and any inconvenience caused."

They added that, after receiving the necessary technical approvals, the flight was set to continue at noon local time on Friday — almost 41 hours after landing in Diyarbakır.

The Airbus A350 is scheduled to land in Mumbai at 8:30 p.m. local time Friday.

• Airline stocks have been plummeting this year on fears of reduced demand.
• They were among the hardest hit by Trump's Wednesday tariff announcements.
• Analysts also expect ticket prices to rise for customers as a result of the sweeping tariffs.

Tariffs are spelling more bad news for airlines and passengers.

Even before Donald Trump's self-styled "Liberation Day" announcement, the big three airline stocks had fallen around a quarter in a month.

Analysts have already warned that airline customers are set to have less spending money while plane ticket prices rise. Morgan Stanley and Bank of America analysts said the effective tariff rate was about double what they expected.

With US companies paying the tariffs on items they import, prices are set to go up for Americans.

"The resulting hit to purchasing power could take real disposable personal income growth in 2Q-3Q into negative territory, and with it the risk that real consumer spending could also contract in those quarters," JPMorgan Chase's chief US economist Michael Feroli wrote in an analyst note.

Vacations aren't a necessity, so are something people can forego when they tighten their purse strings. Cruise and hotel stocks have dipped, too. Corporate travel is expected to drop as well, since the tariffs are designed to incentivize doing business at home.

Higher-than-expected tariffs have exacerbated an already dreary outlook for travel.

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines' share prices have fallen more than a third since the start of the year. American Airlines' is down 44%.

Stocks dipped on Tuesday after Jefferies analysts downgraded American Airlines and Delta Air Lines to Hold ratings.

They said consumer sentiment was at a four-year low and cited "swelling macro uncertainty." In other words, fewer people want to fly because of the state of the economy.

On Monday, Virgin Atlantic executives also warned of softening demand for Americans flying to the UK — although travel in the opposite direction remains at expected levels.

"We think that's quite a natural reaction to the general consumer uncertainty there is in the US at the minute," chief financial officer Oli Byers said in comments reported by several outlets.

The day after the tariffs were announced, the big three airline stocks dropped between 10% and 15% — compared to the broader S&P 500's 5% decline.

Airline ticket prices have been lower this year due to slower demand, but some analysts say they're set to get more expensive.

Airfares set to rise

Tariffs are set to hit planemakers with the costs ultimately being passed down to passengers.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg told a Senate hearing Wednesday that 80% of its airplanes are sold to customers outside the US, and a fifth of the production materials are imported.

"Free trade is very important to us," he added.

Morningstar's analyst for aerospace and defense equities, Nicolas Owens, said: "Investors concerned that the new import tariffs might be devastating to US aerospace firms may overestimate the risk."

However, there is also the risk of retaliatory tariffs on exports. Boeing's share price fell more than 10% on Thursday.

While European rival Airbus has an assembly line in Alabama, it would still have to import parts there.

"Obviously there would be an increase of cost and most probably in price for the airlines, and therefore to the end customers," CEO Guillaume Faury said in February.

In a note Thursday, analysts at Vertical Research Partners also warned they expect airfares to get more expensive.

"Ultimately we see these cost increases being passed on to airlines, and the flying public, which logically will have a negative impact on passenger demand […] and airline profits," they wrote.

Business Insider attended a summit at Airbus' headquarters in Toulouse, France, last week. At the summit, executives spoke to reporters ahead of the tariff announcement.

"We are in an industry where I think tariffs will be very, very damaging," Faury said. "Probably more damaging to the US at first glance."

He also pointed to the effects of a 17-year dispute between the US and Europe over subsidies given to Boeing and Airbus, with tariffs imposed as a result.

"It was so bad for everybody that it came to a cease-fire," he said.

Airlines have already taken a hit as Canadians book fewer flights to the US. Europeans are also starting to lose interest in transatlantic travel, the CEO of hotel operator Accor told Bloomberg.

While airlines have yet to see a drop in demand on this route, the looming trade war could change that.

• Automakers are responding to Trump's latest round of auto tariffs, announced Wednesday.
• Ford is offering customers an employee discount, while VW is adding an "import fee" to cars.
• Stellantis has shut down factories and will lay off 900 workers, while others may shift production to the US.

The Trump administration's fresh wave of tariffs sent shock waves through the automotive industry on Thursday.

Automakers have responded to the impending trade war in various ways, from offering discounts to shoppers who hope to avoid future price increases to adding import fees on vehicles built outside the US.

The "draconian" trade policies, as one Wall Street analyst called them, will also affect autoworkers, with Stellantis pausing production at two assembly plants in Mexico and Canada.

Wall Street believes the tariffs could cost the auto industry more than $80 billion and slash Detroit's Big Three's earnings by up to 60%, thanks to an additional $5,000 of input costs per vehicle.

Here's how the industry at large is responding:

Nissan is pausing US orders of some Mexico-built SUVs

On Thursday, Nissan said it would pause new US orders of two Infiniti SUVs, which are built in Mexico. The announcement came after President Donald Trump's auto tariffs went into effect.

Nissan will pause new Mexico-built orders for the Infiniti QX50 and QX55 SUVs for US sales, the Japanese carmaker said in a statement to Business Insider. The model will still be produced for other markets, and production of other US models in Mexico and Japan will continue.

Nissan also said it would keep two shifts of production of the Rogue SUV at its Smyrna, Tennessee plant, reversing a January plan to end one of the shifts later this month. This will keep "more localized volume in the US that is free of the new auto tariffs," Nissan said in the statement.

Ford offers employee discounts to all customers

Ford announced on Wednesday that it would make employee pricing available to consumers for the next two months.

"In times like these, talk is cheap. At Ford, we believe in action," Rob Kaffl, Ford's director of US sales and dealer operations, said in a press release.

The discount, which ends June 2, applies to all Ford and Lincoln models except Raptors, the 2025 Expedition and Navigator SUVs, and Super Duty trucks.

How much a consumer saves depends on the vehicle, but it could easily run into the thousands. The discount would be applied on top of any other deals or promotions a dealership is offering, the company said.

Ford declined to confirm whether the tariffs would lead to higher sticker prices.

A company spokesperson told Business Insider that it has a 74-day supply of vehicles in stock that haven't been affected by tariffs, compared to 50 days for GM and 24 days for Toyota. (Around 60 days of supply is considered healthy in a normal economic environment.)

Analysts say Ford is one of best best-positioned US automakers to weather the tariffs.

Stellantis paused work at two factories and laid off hundreds at others

Stellantis, which owns former Chrysler brands like Dodge, Jeep, and Ram, has paused production at its Windsor assembly plant in Canada and Toluca assembly plant in Mexico, a spokesperson said Thursday.

The Windsor plant, which makes Pacifica/Voyager minivans and Charger Daytona EV muscle cars, will be offline for two weeks. It plans to resume operations the week of April 21.

The Toluca plant, which builds Jeep Compass and Wagoneer S SUVs, will stop work for the rest of April.

The production stoppage at these two facilities resulted in the temporary layoffs of 900 workers from the company's powertrain and stamping plants in Michigan and Indiana, the spokesperon said.

VW tacks on a special fee for tariff-affected cars

The German automaker Volkswagen has confirmed it will add an "import fee" to the sticker prices of vehicles affected by the tariffs, a spokesperson said. The import fee will be added to the destination charge, which is tacked onto the price of a new car.

It's unclear how much the tariffs will affect the cost of new VW cars as no final pricing decisions have been made, the spokesperson said.

Its top-selling Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport midsize SUVs are made in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Its other top sellers — the Jetta sedan, the Taos SUV, and the Tiguan SUV — are all made in Puebla, Mexico.

Volvo and Mercedes plot production shifts

The CEO of Swedish brand Volvo Cars told Bloomberg on Thursday that the carmaker would look to build more vehicles at its South Carolina factory in response to the tariffs.

"We will have to increase the number of cars we build in the US, and surely move another model to that factory," said Håkan Samuelsson, who returned to Volvo as CEO on Monday.

Samuelsson said the company would "look closely" at which model it moves to the factory, which already builds the EX90 and Polestar 3 EVs. Volvo did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

Mercedes-Benz also signaled that it was considering shifting production to the US. Production chief Jörg Burzer told reporters from multiple outlets that the German carmaker could start building another vehicle model in its Alabama factory.

Burzer said Mercedes was still "assessing" the impact of the tariffs but warned flexibility would be key. Bloomberg previously reported that the company was considering cutting sales of some of its least-expensive models from the US market because the tariffs would make them economically unfeasible.

A spokesperson for rival BMW told BI the luxury carmaker was also still "evaluating" the new levies but called on the US and Europe to reach a deal quickly to avoid further pain for consumers.

• President Donald Trump announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs on Wednesday.
• Many commentators have questioned the tariffs and highlighted their potential economic consequences.
• One said Trump was unlikely to U-turn on the tariffs, so it was time to "sell the dip," not buy it.

President Donald Trump announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs on Wednesday — and people have been reacting as global markets take a hammering.

Here's what big names in business and economics have been saying:

Business Roundtable

Joshua Bolten, the CEO of Business Roundtable, an association that represents more than 200 CEOs, said in a statement the tariffs "run the risk of causing major harm to American manufacturers, workers, families and exporters." He added: "Damage to the US economy will increase the longer the tariffs are in place and may be exacerbated by retaliatory measures."

He said the Business Roundtable "supports President Trump's goal of securing better and fairer trade deals with our trading partners" but called on him to introduce "additional reasonable exemptions" and a "transparent, predictable exclusion process."

Larry Summers

"Never before has an hour of Presidential rhetoric cost so many people so much," Larry Summers, a former Treasury secretary, wrote on X. "The best estimate of the loss from tariff policy is now closer to $30 trillion."

Summers added that the tariffs were the most expensive and "masochistic" the US had imposed in decades.

Mohamed El-Erian

"The price action in global financial markets in the immediate aftermath of the US tariff announcement points to major worries about global economic growth," Mohamed El-Erian, the former CEO of bond giant PIMCO and the chief economic advisor at Allianz, said on X.

Mariana Mazzucato

"These tariffs will cause inflation in the United States; they will cause lower consumer power of US workers. The estimates are between $1,700 to $5,000 per family in terms of the costs of these tariffs," Mariana Mazzucato, an economics professor at University College London, told ITV's "Peston" program.

Boaz Weinstein

Boaz Weinstein, Saba Capital Management's founder, doesn't expect Trump to change course, posting on X: "I'm often wrong, but I don't see him doing a u-turn. This is not a buy-the-dip opportunity. It's a sell the dip opportunity."

David Rosenberg

"So, this tariff file is now being labeled 'Make America Wealthy Again'? What is with that adverb 'again' which is defined as 'returning to a previous condition'? The previous condition, I can tell you, was not nearly as good as the current condition, seeing as US net national net worth just reached a record level of $157 TRILLION (a cool $1.2 million per household … too bad we don't all live at the average!)," David Rosenberg, the founder and president of Rosenberg Research & Associates, said on X.

"Have tariffs really stood in the way of wealth creation in America? I think the title should simply be the truth: 'Let's Make the World Poor Again' (and then we can buy it at a discount)," Rosenberg added.

Nouriel Roubini

Nouriel Roubini, a professor emeritus of the NYU Stern School of Business, said the "Liberation Day" label was "Orwellian doublespeak."

"Whatever the consequences of these tariffs will be — ie lower growth and higher inflation and how much of it depending on the eventual size of these tariffs post-negotiations that will be ugly and long-drawn. There is absolutely no 'liberation' at all in them: not for US consumers, workers and businesses, let alone for the rest of the world," he said on X.

Paul Krugman

"I guess it's just possible that when we get details about the Trump tariffs they will be lower than what he just announced, but based on what he said, he's gone full-on crazy," Paul Krugman, a Nobel Memorial Prize-winning economist and former MIT and Princeton University professor, wrote in his Substack newsletter.

"If you had any hopes that Trump would step back from the brink, this announcement, between the very high tariff rates and the complete falsehoods about what other countries do, should kill them," Krugman added.

Howard Silverblatt

"March continued with President Trump's rapid executive orders and policy changes, as tariffs (along with their potential impact on the economy), inflation, employment and consumer spending became the main concerns of the market, which pulled back with increased trading on strong negative breadth," wrote Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst of S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a S&P Global column.

"Adding to the concern were Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) government employment reductions, as well as US layoffs, which have increased (along with retail warnings)," he added.

The Yale Budget Lab

"The price level from all 2025 tariffs rises by 2.3% in the short-run, the equivalent of an average per household consumer loss of $3,800 in 2024$. Annual losses for households at the bottom of the income distribution are $1,700," wrote the Yale Budget Lab in a new analysis published on April 2, shortly after Trump's blanket tariff announcement.

Jared Bernstein

"True, the United States is a large and dominant country. And it is a relatively closed country, meaning we depend less on trade than most other countries," said Jared Bernstein, former chief economist, in his newsletter. "That means, as Trump has correctly argued, we can hurt them more than they can hurt us. He fails to give a coherent rationale for why we need to start a trade war with Canada, Mexico, Japan, Europe, and other traditionally reliable trading partners."

"First, though they've been explicitly cavalier about the pain they're causing, higher inflation, slower growth, lower investment, falling stock prices — as of this moment, the Dow is down 1,200 points — and higher recession chances could force them to recant. But, at least so far, that may have been the way of Trump 1; it's not the way of Trump 2," he added.

Justin Wolfers

"Monstrously destructive, incoherent, ill-informed tariffs based on fabrications, imagined wrongs, discredited theories and ignorance of decades of evidence. And the real tragedy is that they will hurt working Americans more than anyone else," said Justin Wolfers, economics professor at University of Michigan and public policy scholar, on BlueSky.

Daryl Fairweather

"If these tariffs were more targeted and on specific goods, I wouldn't be so sure we would have stagflation. But these appear to be extremely broad, so I expect higher inflation and lower or even negative economic growth," said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin chief economist, on BlueSky.

"Home construction was already going to be weak this year, but these tariffs (combined with labor problems from immigration policy) will mean fewer homes built," she added.

Bill Gross

The latest set of tariffs is "a similar event to going off the gold standard in 1971. It's an epic event. It's not something where you can time quickly for a market bottom. It's something that we're going to have to live with as long as President Trump continues with this stance," Bill Gross, the cofounder of Pimco, told CNBC.

"I don't think he's going to back down. President Trump, to be very blunt, is a macho male, and this macho male is not going to back down tomorrow simply because the Nasdaq's down 5%," said Gross, who's also known as "Bond King."

Gross said it's not a time for investors to bottom fish, likening it to "catching a falling knife."

Steven Blitz

"Tariffs attack US trading partners but, in effect, attack US corporate profit margins first," wrote Steven Blitz, the chief US economist at GlobalData.TS Lombard. "The 40-odd years of profits rising relative to GDP has ended. The macro risk hitting markets is real, but only accentuates the devaluation process."

"Further exacerbating market volatility is redirection of foreign capital from the US to wherever multiple expansion appears more promising," Blitz wrote.

Jim O'Neill

Jim O'Neill, former chief economist at Goldman Sachs, told BBC News on Friday that the "sensible" thing to do would be for the UK to speak to other members of G7, aside from the US, about lowering trade barriers between each other, particularly for cross-border services.

He said this would be "very healthy for all those countries because it's the one area of global trade that most countries haven't done enough in."

If the US wants to continue down this "kamikaze path," the UK will have to respond, O'Neill added. "It is the US which is going to be hurt more, especially in the short-term, from these rather insane moves."

Stephanie Kelton

"Just had a journalist ask me to explain "Liberation Day,"" Stephanie Kelton, author of The Deficit Myth, wrote in a post on X. "I told him it's about liberating Americans from some of the cash in their wallets."

George Saravelos

George Saravelos, a Deutsche Bank analyst, said in a Friday note that markets were pricing in a global recession.

"This is a US-centric fiscal shock driven by the Trump administration and it is fiscal policy that can unwind it. The countries that respond the quickest and most forcefully to this shock are those whose currencies will likely be the most resilient. And, on the flipside, the more the US fiscal strategy under the Trump administration lacks visibility, the more the market will punish the dollar and US assets.

"One last point: don't expect a reluctant-to-cut Fed to support the dollar. Remember that during the European supply-shock of 2022, the ECB turned hawkish. The euro sold-off regardless because real rates and growth expectations collapsed."

Kristalina Georgieva

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned that US tariffs posed a "significant risk" to the global economy.

"We are still assessing the macroeconomic implications of the announced tariff measures, but they clearly represent a significant risk to the global outlook at a time of sluggish growth," she said in a statement on Thursday.

Christine Lagarde

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, told Ireland's Newstalk that the tariffs would be "negative the world over."

She said Trump's move "will not be good for the global economy and it will not be good for those who inflict the tariffs and those who retaliate."