Another day, another tariff curveball. For markets struggling to decipher President Donald Trump's trade policy, the move to give U.S. auto makers a one-month reprieve from levies on Mexico and Canada complicated the puzzle.

While the move raises more questions, there are several key takeaways from the exemption -- both positive and negative.

The delay means the stock market is likely to remain in a volatile tariffs-related limbo for a while. The beginning of April could be eventful, with reciprocal tariffs on countries around the world set to be unveiled along with the new deadline for levies on autos from Mexico and Canada.

Prolonging the uncertainty makes it harder for U.S. companies to plan for the future and make investments. It may already be having an impact -- new orders plunged in February's ISM manufacturing report released earlier this week. Households may also be feeling more cautious, according to recent consumer spending data. Target and Best Buy warned of price increases due to the levies.

That's the bad news out of the way. On the plus side, Trump's one-month exemption for auto makers perhaps suggests there's a limit to the pain he's willing to inflict on U.S. companies. Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis appealed to the president's better nature and it worked -- at least in the short term. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was "so that they are not at an economic disadvantage."

The U.S. stock market certainly welcomed it -- the three major indexes rose more than 1% after two days of selling.

But Trump has ultimately kicked the can down the road. The stock market, companies, and consumers will have to wait at least another month to fully discover the scale and impact of tariffs. That means more volatility ahead.

-- Callum Keown

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Detroit's Big Three Get One-Month Reprieve From Tariffs

General Motors, Ford Motor, and Chrysler and Jeep parent Stellantis have a one month reprieve from President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada. The White House confirmed the move for cars imported from the two nations a day after the tariffs took effect.

   -- The White House is considering carve outs for other industries that, like 
      the North American auto industry, comply with the trade agreement Trump 
      negotiated with Mexico and Canada during his first term. Trump doesn't 
      want auto makers to be at an economic disadvantage, press secretary 
      Karoline Leavitt said. 
 
   -- Auto makers have been seeking an exemption from the tariffs, warning that 
      the levies would increase the cost of manufacturing and auto parts, and 
      ultimately raise car prices for consumers. Tariff fears have weighed on 
      the three auto makers' stocks since November, down 15% on average. 
 
   -- Tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports have the potential to raise costs 
      and wipe out billions of dollars in profit across the industry, Ford CEO 
      Jim Farley said last month. 
 
   -- Millions of cars sold in the U.S. are assembled in Canada and Mexico, and 
      more than half of the parts on some popular models originate there, 
      according to government data. Trump's reciprocal tariffs on imports from 
      countries that impose levies on American products take effect April 2. 

What's Next: Trump said Tuesday that "numerous" car companies including Honda were planning "massive automobile plants in America," but a Honda spokesperson said Honda had not announced plans for a new U.S. plant, but that it looks forward to investing and building more products in America.

-- Janet H. Cho and Al Root

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Farmer's Trade-War Pain Could Exceed that of 2018

American farmers are facing a double whammy -- getting squeezed by both U.S. tariffs and retaliation from major trade partners. This round of levies could hurt more than those imposed in President Donald Trump's first term and it may cost the government even more to keep food producers afloat this time.

   -- Farmers will get hit by the 25% levies imposed on materials they import 
      and the retaliatory measures from Mexico, Canada, and China from products 
      that get exported. Beijing has added a 10% levy to agricultural tariffs 
      and plans a 15% increase starting March. 15. 
 
   -- Canada's countermeasures include a 25% tariff on products including 
      orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, and coffee. Mexico said 
      it would announce its retaliatory levies soon. The three countries are 
      the biggest export markets for the U.S. agricultural products, and the 
      tariffs will push them toward other producers such as Brazil. 
 
   -- In 2018, the last time Trump imposed tariffs on imports, U.S. 
      agricultural exports to China were cut by half to less than $10 billion. 
      The sector experienced more than $27 billion in losses. 
 
   -- Back then, the Trump administration handed out billions in subsidies as 
      compensation, and may have to do the same this time. But compared with 
      2018, American farmers are in a worse financial position. 

What's Next: There's speculation that Trump may exempt some agricultural products from tariffs, similar to what he did with car makers. Specific carve-outs, perhaps for fertilizer, are being considered, Bloomberg reported late Wednesday.

-- Evie Liu and Brian Swint

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Novo Nordisk Follows Lilly In Wooing Underinsured Patients Off Copycats

Novo Nordisk said its online pharmacy will sell the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy more cheaply to uninsured patients and to patients whose insurance doesn't cover the medicine, as it tries to woo customers who bought legal knockoffs from telehealth providers such as Hims & Hers Health.

   -- The Food and Drug Administration's Feb. 21 declaration that Wegovy was no 
      longer in shortage means Hims will have to stop selling its copycat 
      version in coming months, and will largely shift its weight-loss 
      offerings to older, less-effective generic pills. 
 
   -- Novo Nordisk's in-house pharmacy will sell Wegovy for $499 a month. 
      That's more than the $165 a month price at which Hims offers its copycat 
      version, but is a significant discount from Novo's $1,350 a month list 
      price. 
 
   -- Hims sold $225 million of its Wegovy knockoff last year, and wants to 
      parlay that into a durable weight-loss business in coming years. Eli 
      Lilly's competing drug Zepbound came off its own shortage in December. 
      Lilly's in-house pharmacy program prices the lowest dose of Zepbound at 
      $349 a month, and higher doses at up to $699 a month. 
 
   -- Although Eli Lilly's pharmacy program sells lower-doses of Zepbound in 
      single-dose vials that patients must draw and inject themselves, Novo 
      Nordisk's pharmacy sells Wegovy in the same single-dose auto-injector 
      pens as through traditional channels. 

What's Next: If Novo Nordisk and Lilly can capture patients who had relied on compounded alternatives of their drugs with their lower-priced online pharmacy offerings, that could help reassure investors that the pharmaceutical makers' sky-high sales growth estimates remain on track.

-- Josh Nathan-Kazis and Janet H. Cho

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Marvell Technology Beats Expectations But Outlook Doesn't Totally Wow Street

Marvell Technology couldn't beat the highest expectations as Wall Street continues to beat up stocks of artificial intelligence companies for not being perfect. Its revenue guidance, while above expectations at the midpoint, wasn't as high as the highest estimate by the analysts who follow it. Shares fell 16% after hours.

   -- For the current quarter ending in April, Marvell forecast a revenue range 
      of $1.875 billion at the midpoint, compared with analysts' expectations 
      of $1.87 billion. But the highest analyst estimate currently calls for 
      fiscal first quarter revenue of more than $1.97 billion, according to 
      FactSet. 
 
   -- Marvell sells chips and hardware for the data center, 5G infrastructure, 
      networking, and storage markets. It also helps large tech companies 
      design their own AI semiconductors. For the fourth quarter, revenue of 
      $1.82 billion and adjusted earnings of 60 cents a share both beat 
      expectations. 
 
   -- Fourth quarter data-center revenue was up 24% from the third quarter and 
      up 78% from a year earlier. Amazon.com, one of the so-called hyperscalers, 
      is one of Marvell's biggest customers, Bloomberg reported. 
 
   -- Among Marvell's other business categories, fourth quarter revenue rose 
      from the third quarter in all categories except consumer, which fell 8%. 
      Overall, revenue rose 27% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier. 

What's Next: Raymond James analyst Srini Pajjuri sees Marvell as well-positioned for significant share growth given its strong IP, system-level expertise, and execution track record. The analyst expects the custom AI accelerator market to grow to $50 billion or more by 2028.

-- Tae Kim

***

Now We Know Why Warren Buffett Was Selling Stocks

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