Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.24%, or 559 points, after a weaker-than-expected jobs report and continuing trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Both the Dow and S&P 500 are now down for 2018, while the Nasdaq is up just under 1%.
The big picture: A week that began with optimism about trade ended lower due, in part, to pessimism about trade.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Sen. Mitt Romney. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Saturday tweeted a scathing response to President Trump's Friday night commutation of former associate Roger Stone's prison sentence, calling the move "[u]nprecedented, historic corruption."
Why it matters: Romney has emerged as the party's most prominent Trump critic. He sent shockwaves through Washington after announcing he would vote to convict Trump in the impeachment trial — becoming the only Senate Republican to break ranks and vote for the president's removal from office. Now he is the first major GOP lawmaker to condemn Trump's Friday night call regarding Stone.
Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios
By any standard, no matter how you look at it, the U.S. is losing its war against the coronavirus.
Why it matters: The pandemic is not an abstraction, and it is not something that’s simmering in the background. It is an ongoing emergency ravaging nearly the entire country, with a loss of life equivalent to a Sept. 11 every three days — for four months and counting.