Breathe easy? Financial markets have it all figured out? Order is restored? Or, not?
So far, and after only a few days, tariffs are a thing of the past. Inflation is so last week. Recession is what you explain to your grandkids. Stocks have settled down and attention has turned elsewhere. All clear?
The current pause “in the action” may very well be attributed to basketball!! College basketball, specifically, and better known as March Madness.
This time of year is when the best college basketball teams in the nation compete in a tournament to see which team is crowned “King (or Queen) of Basketball.” It’s also when all the stock market genius traders become immediate basketball experts. So perhaps financial markets will be muted for a bit as the tournament’s brackets are filled out. Of course as soon as play begins this Thursday, most brackets will be crushed as unknown Fargo Tech beats Duke.
We all know that all those pesky things mentioned above (tariffs, inflation, etc.) are still hanging around. Uh, don’t we? Those are now joined by some new “issues.” Specifically the results of all those polices that have been enacted. Next month will bring just how much the economy contracted. GDP -2% or -3%? Consumer spending will take a hit. That, and more, will certainly be a drag and probably wake the financial markets up to some new thinking.
Also, don’t forget that new cabinet members are solidly in place with the new administration. In the DOJ for example, the Epstein files will be made public naming lots of names. The JFK files too. There may be a whole lot of criminal trials hogging the headlines. Market’s effects? BTW, you will be able to tell who’s in deep doodoo when all of a sudden certain people take “vacations” in Angola (no extradition).
So here we are. Was all the financial market activity (a/k/a selling) of the past few weeks over and done? Will Fargo Tech beat Duke and go on to be the Cinderella of the tournament? Of course not, they aren’t even in the game.
Was that it? Ah, probably not.
