• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 17, 2025

Financial markets have been sending a sharp TV and media marketing message: We’re all in for an uneasy time.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 9% since January 30 -- just 10 days after the start of the Trump Administration to 40,813, closing on March 13. The broader S&P 500 is down 10% to 5,521 since February 19, with Nasdaq down 13% to 17,303.

The markets are being affected by the Trump Administration's missives about tariffs, counter-tariffs, reciprocal tariffs, and other anti-trade global business moves -- almost on a daily basis.

These are moves that if widely instituted across businesses could put a kibosh on any economic growth, according to many analysts.

What’s the slim chance that Trump will succeed? The hope is all this shakes up the market and delivers more money -- ultimately -- to U.S. citizens, investors, and publicly traded stock-market traders companies.

Right now, however, many analysts are not confident any of this will happen. Consumer polls show that nearly 60% believe Trump tariffs -- and the coming of more anti-trade activity -- is sending a marketing message that the Trump moves are “too erratic."

President Trump himself says all these seemingly erratic moves are about "flexibility," promising that in the end the U.S. will be richer for it.

What’s the view now? Just a “little disruption,” says Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury. In addition to trimming excessive government spending, he says it will mean we are going through a “detox” period. Not necessarily a recession, but he wouldn’t rule it out.

Viewers may not be all that worried when it comes to their investments -- at least by one TV measure.

Since the Trump Administration took control on January 20, CNBC is down 2% in impressions to 4.3 billion, according to EDO Ad EnGage versus the previous roughly month-and-a-half-long period.

However, at the same time, Fox Business -- which skews a bit more to Trump-supporting viewers -- has witnessed a 11% spike in impressions to 2.9 billion impressions.

General TV news channels -- which have been adding in more business news -- have all seen broadly rising impressions since January 20, with MSNBC up 14%, with 24.1 billion impressions, CNN (up 10%, 28.8 billion) and Fox News Channel (1% more, to 42.8 billion).

Is there more to come? News viewers and potential more consumers with a keen financial interest could boost TV networks in the coming months -- especially if key tariff-affected businesses slow down their revenue growth, coming at the same time that expenses for businesses climb -- and prices for products and services for consumers.

Perhaps we should just turn off the news now and then and just throw up our hands and watch some reruns of “The Apprentice."

I am guessing some interesting business stories are there to mull over with a certain New York City businessman seemingly running the show.