Hmmmm?
Maybe?
Maybe NOT?
We’ll see what the next few days pushback from those countries and the American worrying brings….
US stocks just suffered the worst two-day drop since December as President Donald Trump’s trade war added to worries about the economy. And through it all, the man who for years pointed to the equity market as his barometer of success remained quiet.
That is until after the market closed. His commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, told Fox Business Network that Trump may offer a pathway for tariff relief for Mexico and Canada on Wednesday.
Immediately, the biggest ETF that tracks tech stocks jumped almost 1% in late trading and index futures contracts surged from their lows.
That’s not to say that a policy reversal is imminent — the Trump administration has sent mixed signals in the past. And it comes in stark contrast to Trump’s statements earlier, when he threatened to raise levies on Canada commensurate with that country’s retaliatory tariffs.
But Lutnick’s comments coming on the heels of another market selloff underscore the idea that Wall Street strategists expect Trump to be attuned to the mood on America’s financial markets, and potentially adjust policy accordingly.
The thinking is that the US president’s penchant for using the stock market as a report card meant any policy that rattled investors would cause him to quickly ditch those plans. Various Wall Street firms guessed how much pain Trump could tolerate in the S&P 500 Index before retreating. That index level became known as “the Trump put,” in reference to a put option….
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