Friends
What a week! Every time the President talked tough on tariffs, stocks tumbled. Then administration officials would walk it back and stocks rallied. We seemed to do this every day until today. Today, after more tough talk overnight by the President, even administration officials couldn’t walk it back. As a matter of fact Treasury Secretary Mnuchin doubled down on the tough talk. Add to this mix, the Fed Chairman not backing off this years expected rate hikes, despite a much weaker than expected jobs number this morning, and we had a recipe for a down stock market. It was one of the most volatile weeks I have ever seen, and I’ve seen 33 years of them.
Anyway, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 572 points to finish the day at 23,932. The S&P 500 was down 58 points to close at 2,604. Gold was up $8 to trade at $1,336 per ounce, while oil was down $1.61 to trade at $61.93 per barrel WTI.
As we mentioned in our presentation this week, the markets don’t like the uncertainty that tariffs and a potential trade war have introduced into the equation. February’s inflation fears have now given way to the trade war fears. Whether a trade war actually happens or if the President’s hardball tactics work in the long run, no one really knows. But as mentioned, the markets don’t like uncertainty.
Have a great weekend everyone.
