On the menu today: This is Dominic Pino filling in for Jim Geraghty. There will be no Morning Jolt tomorrow in observance of Good Friday.

A Reality Check for U.S. Manufacturing

There’s a lot of doom and gloom about U.S. manufacturing, with constant talk of how jobs only disappear, and we don’t make anything here anymore. The trend that these talking points describe is real, and it was very apparent from the late ’90s to the late ’00s, but it has mostly stopped.

Retail spending — one of the key drivers in the economy — saw its biggest jump in more than two years during March, as more people rushed to buy cars and other big-ticket items ahead of President Trump's new tariffs.

Spending at stores, restaurants and car dealerships grew 1.4% in March compared to February, according to Wednesday's data from the Commerce Department. That's the biggest increase since January 2023 — and the driver was mainly autos.

Tens of thousands of music fans will descend on the California desert this weekend for the first of two iterations of the Coachella Music and Arts festival outside of Palm Springs, Calif.

If you’re financing your festival tickets, honestly, who cares? You gotta flex that carefully staged Instagram shot in front of the Ferris wheel somehow, right? 

Nothing screams financial stability like throwing a $49 down payment on a $600 ticket, then praying your direct deposit hits before your third installment bounces.

You wouldn’t want your Instagram followers knowing the ugly truth right? That your credit score barely qualifies you to rent a scooter, let alone pretend you’re a VIP at Coachella.

I think we’ve done it folks.

This. 

Overpriced, inedible concessions at Coachella have outraged critics who are calling out the music festival for being a “money trap” as hundreds of thousands descended on the Southern California desert.

One influencer claimed she spent over $100 for her meal consisting of tacos and lemonade on the first night of Coachella on Friday, which pop megastar Lady Gaga headlined on the festival’s main stage.

Ruth Viveros, who has chronicled her experience in Coachella Valley since Friday, shared a glimpse into the food at the famous music festival.

Few economic philosophies have shaped America’s prosperity as profoundly as Henry Clay’s American System – a blueprint for national strength and self-sufficiency. Developed in the early 19th century, Clay’s vision centered on protective tariffs, a strong national banking system, infrastructure development, and the responsible use of natural resources. These pillars propelled the United States into economic dominance. However, in the latter half of the 20th century, Cold War geopolitics led to a significant departure from these principles.

Many Trump supporters are celebrating his new tariffs on the hope that they’ll make America great again by bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. “For four years, Americans couldn’t afford groceries, let alone a house,” Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner wrote on X last Wednesday, “This Liberation Day, @POTUS is bringing manufacturing and jobs back. President Trump is making the American Dream achievable again!” That same day, Republican Sen.

In the 1950s, around 35% of private-sector jobs in the U.S. were in manufacturing. Today, there are 12.8 million manufacturing jobs in the U.S., an amount equal to 9.4% of those private-sector jobs.

President Trump says his sweeping tariff regime is aimed at bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. Economists are skeptical that tariffs could make that a reality, and worry that the damage they create will outweigh any benefits.

 A University of Michigan of Michigan survey Friday found consumer sentiment plunged 11% in April for the fourth straight month of decline.

The Friday report showed that the index of consumer sentiment fell to 50.8, worse than the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 54.6.

U.S. stocks are diving Thursday and surrendering much of their historic gains from the day before as President Donald Trump’s trade war continues to confuse and threaten the economy, even if its temperature has cooled a bit.

The S&P 500 was down 5% in midday trading, slicing into Wednesday’s surge of 9.5% following Trump’s decision to pause many of his tariffs worldwide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,724 points, or 4.2%, as of 12:40 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 5.7% lower.