Was that it? Was that the top? A week ago, the market fell 2.7% as President Trump announced an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods starting November 1st. Since that Friday selloff, the market has stabilized and recovered a little over half that one day loss. The S&P 500 is now down just about 1.5% from its all-time high. Is [...]
Nuance: A subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression, or sound. A subtle difference or variation. The origin of the word nuance is a Latin word, "nubes", which means cloud. It is also from the French "nuer" which means "to shade". Why am I parsing the meaning and origin of the word nuance? Because we seem to have lost [...]
All my economists say 'on one hand' then 'but on the other'. Can't someone bring me a one-handed economist? Maybe Harry Truman but on the other hand maybe Charles Frederick Carter or on the other hand maybe it was a one-armed economist Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole last Friday was widely perceived as a capitulation, an admission that rate [...]
The tariff rollercoaster continues. This week most of President Trump's tariffs were ruled to be outside the scope of the law he used to impose them. I was not surprised in the least because, as I wrote a few weeks ago, I actually took the time to read the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the word tariff doesn't even [...]
Stocks have rebounded over the last three weeks from the initial shock of the "liberation day" tariffs announced on April 8th. The S&P 500 is now down just 2.5% since the close on the day of the announcement (they were announced after the market close). There have been some changes to the initial tariff levels but even the reduced levels [...]
The stock market rallied last week, the S&P 500 up nearly 6%, spurred on by the suspension of some of the tariffs imposed on April 2nd. The "reciprocal" part of the new tariffs was suspended for 90 days while the 10% universal tariff was retained. Tariffs on China, however, were raised further after they retaliated against President Trump's previous retaliation [...]
You can't be serious! You cannot be serious! - John McEnroe, challenging a fault call at Wimbledon, 1981 That's what went through my head when President Trump unveiled his "reciprocal" tariffs on Wednesday last week. The tariffs unveiled on Trump's "Liberation Day": are the largest tax increase since at least 1968 and maybe in our entire history. impose an average [...]
Sweeping tariffs and a shift away from strong dollar policy can have some of the broadest ramifications of any policies in decades, fundamentally reshaping the global trade and financial systems. There is a path by which these policies can be implemented without material adverse consequences, but it is narrow, and will require currency offset for tariffs and either gradualism or [...]
By the time you read this, markets around the world will be reacting to the Trump administration's imposition of tariffs on Canada and Mexico and additional tariffs on China. I don't know what exactly that reaction will be although it seems unlikely to be positive, at least initially. Regardless of the market reaction, investors need to be careful not to [...]
The December employment report was released last Friday and it was quite a bit better than expected. Expectations were for payrolls to rise by 160,000 on the month but instead 256,000 people found a job and started working. For reference, the 3-month average is a gain of 170,000 so there was a significant acceleration in December. The unemployment rate fell [...]
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