Trump denies engineering market sell-off, says you have to "take medicine"

President Trump on Sunday denied engineering a stock market sell-off, and likened the pain of re-ordering the global economy to taking medicine for an illness.Why it matters: After plunging Thursday and Friday, global markets sank even further Sunday night, threatening one of the worst three-day routs in history. Investors who spent all weekend hoping for some kind of policy reversal on tariffs realized that none was coming, and sold off across asset classes in earnest. What they're saying: "I don't want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," Trump told reporters on Air Force One, heading back to Washington, D.C. He denied crashing markets on purpose, saying "no, that's not so," after he shared a video on his social media accounts that suggested he was intentionally bringing markets down. Zoom out: Trump's comments came hours after his topic economic advisers, in Sunday TV interviews, said markets shouldn't expect a rescue from the tariff-driven sell-off. By the numbers: As of 8pm Sunday ET, early trading indicated U.S. stocks would open more than 4% lower, continuing a sell-off that already cost investors more than $6 trillion.The dollar continued to weaken, oil fell below $60 for the first time in years, and even tariff safe-haven gold sold off.The intrigue: Billionaire hedge fund manager and Trump supporter Bill Ackman warned of an "economic nuclear winter" if the president didn't pause the tariff regime. Later Sunday, Ackman called the tariffs a "mistake" and said they were "massively in excess" of what the world charges the U.S.Editor's note: This story has been updated with market details and investor comments.

President Trump on Sunday denied engineering a stock market sell-off, and likened the pain of re-ordering the global economy to taking medicine for an illness.Why it matters: After plunging Thursday and Friday, global markets sank even further Sunday night, threatening one of the worst three-day routs in history. Investors who spent all weekend hoping for some kind of policy reversal on tariffs realized that none was coming, and sold off across asset classes in earnest.

What they're saying: "I don't want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," Trump told reporters on Air Force One, heading back to Washington, D.C.

He denied crashing markets on purpose, saying "no, that's not so," after he shared a video on his social media accounts that suggested he was intentionally bringing markets down. Zoom out: Trump's comments came hours after his topic economic advisers, in Sunday TV interviews, said markets shouldn't expect a rescue from the tariff-driven sell-off. By the numbers: As of 8pm Sunday ET, early trading indicated U.

S. stocks would open more than 4% lower, continuing a sell-off that already cost investors more than $6 trillion.The dollar continued to weaken, oil fell below $60 for the first time in years, and even tariff safe-haven gold sold off.

The intrigue: Billionaire hedge fund manager and Trump supporter Bill Ackman warned of an "economic nuclear winter" if the president didn't pause the tariff regime. Later Sunday, Ackman called the tariffs a "mistake" and said they were "massively in excess" of what the world charges the U.S.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with market details and investor comments..