President Donald Trump promised a massive change in the economy earlier this year, and that he hoped investors would become a massive growth wave that pushed the market higher.
It’s not going that way.
Trump’s aggressive and unstable stance on tariffs targeting his enemies and allies has distorted the balance between the volatile global market and Wall Street. In late April, most assets remained low in Trump’s first 100 days despite the rebounds, as he showed an eagerness to pursue trade deals and pulled back from his toughest version of “mutual” tariffs. One exception is gold, as investors want safety.
So, what’s it now? Strategists are predicting more of the same for the time being. Most people will be looking at the volatile, headline-driven stock market for at least the next few months.
“I believe that all of these headlines will come from Washington right now,” Piper Sandler’s chief investment strategist Michael Kantrowitz said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. His basic case’s assumption is that tariff rhetoric continues, but the administration could attack some trade contracts, further mitigating against the downsides, but limiting profits.
As for gold, investors will buy it as long as the uncertainty of the policy persists.
Read more: How to Invest in Gold in 4 Steps
“One of the things that push money up is economic policy uncertainty. It’s not necessarily whether the policy is good or bad,” James Steel, chief of HSBC’s Chief Precious Metal analyst, said in an interview.
That all means that the next 100 days may be similar to the last 100 days. The focus will remain on tariffs until the sausage creation of the tax bill heats up in Washington.
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