Tariff Showdown: China and EU vs. U.S., Treasury Yields Spike, Market Volatility 4/9/25

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David Faber (0:59)

Market insight and analysis. You're listening to the opening bell of CNBC Squawk on the Street. Wednesday morning, everybody. Welcome to Squawk on the Street. I'm David Faber with Jim Cramer. We're live from Post 9 at the New York Stock Exchange. Carl is on assignment this morning. Let's take a look at futures. Things have been trading, changing quickly, but generally we are talking about a lower open, though we are far off the lows of the implied, at least of the implied.

Jim Cramer (1:24)

Way down from the highs at 5 a.m. I mean, this stuff is nonsense.

David Faber (1:27)

Okay. Well, you heard it there. Nonetheless, we're going to continue to forge ahead here, nonsense or not. Our roadmap does begin.

Jim Cramer (1:34)

I'm just saying that the variability of what you see on your screen may not be that just positive to what happens AF hour from now.

David Faber (1:40)

Correct. So I'm saying, correct. I don't know if you heard, there's a lot of uncertainty out there and that starts with the trade war. China, of course, is ramping up its tariffs on US imports to 84 percent. It's now retaliating against what are 104 percent levies on Chinese goods and it all is now in effect. We are seeing a sell-off as well in the Treasury market. It's all anybody wants to talk about with me this morning. One point overnight, the yield on the 10-year note jumping to four and a half percent. And of course, that uncertainty, well, it's also impacting corporate forecasts. Walmart pulls its operating income guidance for the current quarter. As for Delta, it says it will not reaffirm its full year outlook. CEO Ed Bastion is saying the airline is acting as if we're going to go into a recession. Let's get right to the markets. And, you know, we are off the lows, not to read into it. What are you thinking about as we get ready to open trading 29 minutes from now, Jim?

Jim Cramer (2:39)

Okay, I've spent maybe 40 minutes trying to figure out what price journeys multiple I should put on the company known as Apple.

David Faber (2:47)

Okay.

Jim Cramer (2:48)

And the reason I say that is because it's at the fulcrum of this moment because it's the one that has uniformly hurt the worst. President last night said billions, 500 billions, as if that Apple is putting here. But it's, I don't want to say it's disingenuous, but I do think that there's a notion that Apple has by far hurt the most. Do you give it a 16 multiple? Do you give it a 20 multiple? Do you use 645 for the earnings? Now, I'm bringing this up as a metaphor for the lack of any sort of even, let's just say thought, a rigorous thought of what Apple, this is one of the largest companies in the world, is going to earn next year in what multiple? And you default to thinking, okay, what's the historic multiple? And you take it to a 20, use a 645, and bingo, you see where I'm going.

David Faber (3:35)

I do see where you're going. Where you're going is it's almost impossible to know at this point. And by the way, as I was reporting yesterday, they may have gotten as much as two-quarters worth of inventory to these shores prior to the impact of the tariffs. But that said, it still makes it more difficult because you may see the pull forward reflecting positively in sales. And then we're all going to be sitting here waiting for what may be a plummet. And we're not just talking about Apple, we're talking about across the board. It is why, and I know we talked about this yesterday, Jim, the expectation is we're going to get a lot more companies other than just Delta pulling guidance. How can you not?