spook

I flushed when she said my name, and I startled easily and often when she tried to spook me.

Higher tariffs have sparked rising prices in construction materials and equipment, while the crackdown on undocumented workers has thinned and spooked much of the international workforce the industry depends on.

Yet in today’s environment, where fear of retribution from the White House is driving programming decisions, it was enough to spook ABC into pulling a late-night franchise that’s endured for decades.

But by then his words had already spooked markets, spurring a sharp fall in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and a raft of enraged statements from his political enemies.

Mexico’s economy was already on the rocks when the U.S. president began issuing tariff threats, spooking overseas investors who once viewed Mexico as a pipeline to move products into the U.S. tax-free.