Friends
Stocks were minding their own business today after receiving decent but non-threatening economic data this morning when the White House introduced the idea of tariffs with regards to the steel industry. Now, it should come as no surprise that the President wants to protect our steel and manufacturing industries here in the U.S. as he ran on doing just that. The markets however were not very happy about the fact that he seems to want to follow through on those campaign promises and thus could cause a trade war.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 420 points to close at 24,608. The S&P 500 was down 36 points to finish the day at 2,677. Gold was up $1.10 to trade at $1,319 per ounce, while oil was down $.25 to trade at $61.39 per barrel WTI.
As we test various support levels, perhaps this latest White House Initiative will cause the market averages to test the lows that we put in back in early February. The cries that trade protection hurts many more than it helps will permeate the market (we would for the most part agree with that view), but the President will surely say that he wants trade, but that it has to be “fair” trade. He’s going against many of his economic advisors on the subject, but it appears to be one that is near and dear to his heart. How it will affect the markets is another matter. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
