Perspectives

On Thursday, President Trump announced plans to impose tariffs on all imports from Mexico in an effort to stop migrants crossing into the U.S.  The tariff, effective June 10th, would begin at 5% and escalate at 5% intervals to a maximum of 25% in October.  The U.S. has never previously used blanket tariffs against another country; the President’s authority to do so is unclear.  The markets’ response was extremely negative; with all of the major indices declining for the week.  The Russe… View More

The reverberations from last week’s breakdown in trade talks between the U.S. and China and the sanctions placed on Huawei continued to roil the markets.  In particular, investors focused on the impact on Technology companies as the Nasdaq, the worst performing index, fell 2.29%, followed by the Russell 2000® Index (-1.41%), S&P 500® Index (-1.17%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.69%).   Apple, which relies heavily on China for manufacturing and sales, fell 5.31% this week as… View More

We want to share an article that we came across while following news on the U.S. trade dispute with China.  It is a little outside our normal discussion of markets and economics, but we think it gives important insight into what is going on between the U.S. and China, as well as other major world powers.  We have added some highlighting to bring attention to certain details in the article.   Some may be inclined to believe the issues with Huawei are politically motivated, and some of the ar… View More

Trade dominated market sentiment as investors reacted to the breakdown in U.S./China trade negotiations and the potential economic impact. Trading volumes suggest that many investors chose to sit on the sidelines amidst the uncertainty.  Last Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 617 points (-2.38%) then reversed course leading all indices at the end of the week with a decline of 0.69%, followed by the S&P 500® (-0.76%), Nasdaq (-1.27%) and Russell 2000® (2.37%).  President Trum… View More

On Sunday April 5th, President Trump tweeted that trade negotiations with China were moving too slowly; he announced a tariff increase (from 10% to 25%) on $200 billion of Chinese imports effective Friday April 10th and announced his intention to initiate a 25% tariff on an additional $320 billion of imports from China.  China, while offering no details, indicated its intention to reciprocate.  The sudden change in outlook for a trade agreement sent the markets tumbling last week: the Nasdaq … View More