Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Tuesday, April 8th, and I'm your host, Kim Khan. Our top story so far,

Tesla CEO and White House advisor Elon Musk unsuccessfully made personal appeals to President Donald Trump

to reverse the sweeping new tariffs. That's according to the Washington Post.

Musk has voiced his disagreement with new tariffs, using social media platform X to criticize

White House trade advisor Peter Navarro and posting a video featuring economist Milton Friedman

who argued the benefits of international trade cooperation.

Today, Musk labeled Navarro, quote, truly a moron, unquote, and, quote,

dumber than a sack of bricks, unquote, for claiming on CNBC that Tesla is not a car manufacturer,

but a car assembler with components from other countries.

Musk said Tesla has the most American-made cars,

citing a study by Cars.com, which also included Canada in that definition.

Elon Musk's brother, Kimball Musk, a fellow Tesla board member, wrote,

Who would have thought that Trump was actually the most high-tax American president in generations?

Through his tariff strategy, Trump has implemented a structural, permanent tax on the American consumer.

While Trump himself has been steadfast in his recent statement that the goal for the U.S. is to

eliminate trade deficits with every nation it trades with, Wall Street still looks hostage

to how advisors and cabinet members see the White House moving toward the

goals. In today's trading, stocks got off to a rip-roaring start after avoiding a Black Monday

scenario in the previous session. The S&P 500 climbed as high as 4% after Treasury Secretary

Scott Bessent said about 70 countries have contacted the White House seeking out to start trade talks.

He also said that countries that did not escalate the trade war will get priority in trade talks.

...