Amid Trump-Induced Chaos, Business News Networks Enter the Eye of the Storm

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell opened his show in unusual fashion on March 11, joking that he had cut back watching his own network and was devoting most of his time to its corporate sibling, the business channel CNBC.

“It’s a really exciting time to watch CNBC. It’s especially fun if you’ve watched CNBC in normal times,” the host told Rachel Maddow during their handoff banter, later adding that the business network “normally puts reasonable people to sleep.”

While that might sound harsh, the chaos of the Trump administration’s opening weeks, with his back-and-forth, on-and-off actions related to tariffs and wanton cuts to reduce government, has propelled the business channels into the eye of the storm. Amid this economic roller coaster, with wild fluctuations in the stock market — puncutated by the Dow dropping nearly 900 points in one day, or more than 2% — pressure to capture Wall Street’s skittish state of mind has increasingly taken center stage.

Not that those channels have altered their established formulas, despite the higher profile they are currently enjoying. Yet the volatility surrounding the markets has triggered some particularly pointed commentary from the talking heads featured on these channels, which include Fox Business, whose highest-profile hosts are traditionally viewed as both pro-business and pro-Trump; and Bloomberg Television.

On Fox Business, for example, former Trump adviser Stephen Moore called the president’s emphasis on tariffs “misguided,” adding peril to what he described as “a very wobbly economy.”

Over at CNBC, veteran economics reporter Steve Liesman prefaced his analysis by saying, ”I am going to say this at the risk of losing my job, but what President Trump is doing is insane,” referring to the high tariffs being placed on Canada and Trump’s persistent demands that America’s northern neighbor become the 51st state.

Even before this week’s dramatic market slide, ratings for business news have been spiking upward. In February, Fox Business recorded its highest month since December 2022, outranking CNBC with a total-day average of 147,000 viewers, per Nielsen data, and a business-day tally of 234,000, to CNBC’s 206,000.

CNBC has also enjoyed a viewership surge. Through the first 10 weeks of the year, the network is delivering its largest audience among adults 25-54, the key ad-sales demographic, in four years.

Although the current news cycle represents the literal opposite of business as usual, the networks seem determined to cover it that way, while acknowledging that the pace of business-related news has been operating on overdrive.

“A firehose” of business news

“We’ve learned how to deal with these things. We don’t panic in the face of red on the screen,” Ralph Giordano, Fox Business Network’s senior VP of programming, told TheWrap, adding, “It’s a firehose for sure. The last six weeks feel like six months.”

Although CNBC has its share of Trump-friendly talent, such as morning anchor Joe Kernen, Fox is perceived as having an advantage in booking administration officials thanks to its Trump-supporting opinion hosts, including Maria Bartiromo and Larry Kudlow, who recently conducted news-making interviews with Trump and Elon Musk, respectively.

Bartiromo asked Trump about the impact of tariffs and the likelihood of a recession, and his noncommittal answer on the latter front — saying, “I hate to predict things like that” — played a role in the market selloff that followed.

On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance echoed those sentiments, saying, “You can never predict the future” when asked about the likelihood of a recession by Fox host Laura Ingraham, before pivoting to blame the current situation on decades of past neglect. (Trump recently named Bartiromo and Ingraham to the board of the Kennedy Center, where Vance was loudly booed while attending a concert the same night.)

Giordano cited the Bartiromo interview as evidence that Fox Business is “not going to be pull back any punches or questions based on relationships,” noting of its access to key administration figures, “We don’t go over questions ahead of time. We definitely are pressing them for answers.”

The cable networks appear in part torn between their normal pro-business posture and acknowledging the reality of what’s playing out on the tickers updating constantly across the bottom of the screen. CNBC’s Jim Cramer, a reliable cheerleader for Wall Street, issued a direct message to Trump on his “Mad Money” show, warning that “we could end up a helluva lot lower than where we are with stocks and with the economy.”

The next day, though, CNBC was also on more familiar ground by flagging areas of opportunity for investors, including what was billed as a “shopping list for the market pull-back.”

Meanwhile, Bartiromo was true to form as she explained away Trump’s tariffs as a necessary measure for long-term gain while sharing the screen with the stock market ticker, dropping 100 points as she spoke.

Shifting into a “higher gear”

“We are on the big financial stories every day, but when there is heightened economic uncertainty and market volatility, we shift into a higher gear,” Dan Colarusso, senior VP of CNBC Business News, said. “The CNBC audience depends on us to be fast, accurate and insightful, helping them navigate how these stories impact their businesses, investments and daily lives. Our network of journalists and contributors have delivered that in this news cycle.”

Another factor potentially impacting the coverage involves the reticence of business leaders to publicly criticize Trump — who is well known for his vindictive streak — despite their private misgivings. The Wall Street Journal described this “dissonance” as a calculation among CEOs hoping to benefit from deregulation and lower taxes while avoiding a public stance that might prompt the president “to dig in, not retreat, from his tariff agenda.”

Given the niche they normally occupy, it remains to be seen whether the business networks can rise to meet the demands of the current moment, particularly if the tumult unleashed by Trump’s policies persists.

The Dow again dropped more than 500 points on March 13, and the S&P 500 officially entered “correction” territory — it’s first since October 2023 — having experienced a decline of more than 10% from its high on Feb. 19. The latest market slip followed Trump threatening the European Union with a 200% tariff on wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages, after the bloc’s response to his tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The market rebounded in closing the week Friday, with the Dow finishing up 674 points, a 1.65% gain. Overall, though, it still represented its worst week since March 23, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have both posted four consecutive losing weeks.

Appearing on “Meet the Press” Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed the market’s recent performance and turmoil, saying that based on his experience, “I can tell you that corrections are healthy. They’re normal. What’s not healthy is straight up that you get these euphoric markets. That’s how you get a financial crisis.”

Viewers fretting about their retirement accounts might not be enjoying the wild swings, but Giordano said Fox Business welcomes the opportunity to show off what it can do, both on its own platform and via those being tapped to provide analysis for the mother ship, Fox News Channel.

“This is what we are made for,” he said. “This news cycle is what we thrive on.”

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