There is nothing like a Trump tweet to set the tone for the week. Feels like the markets are living on borrowed time re AI, US Treasuries and current valuations. All look strong, but what if the bottom falls out? Relax… the sun will come up tomorrow.
Gold Prices stumbled earlier this week. It is a bursting bubble? Nope. Markets will remain uncertain – while the world’s geopolitical polarity is shifting Gold remains the safe-haven play. That shift is being accelerated by events as the stability that fuelled the last 80 years of growth is undermined by bad politics and division.
If there is one thing we Brits are really, really good at its making things difficult for ourselves. We talk ourselves down and fall into doom and gloom, despite knowing for certain is the sun will come up tomorrow… “Things are never as bad as we fear, but seldom as good as we hope!”
Huh! Some Nervous Nellies think the US stock market is rallying hard on thin air. Nonsense. What’s not to like about a big Fed Ease, a strong economy, and empowered companies! Nothing to worry about in terms of inflation or trade – ignore the doomsters trying to undermine confidence in the President and America. Buy, buy, and buy…
So much to worry about. Stop. Why bother? What’s not to like about short-term markets. Nvidia is selling more and more and more chips, SpaceX half-circumnavigated the planet, and US Treasuries care not a jot about Fed Independence. Give me another puff of whatever these guys are smoking!
Friday August 1st might go down in history as the day the US Treasury Market died. There was an art to reading US Data. It relied on trust. Now that is broken – if you can’t trust the data, what can you trust? Other govt bond markets are available.
The Market Commentariat feared the worst when Trump took office. Liberation Day confirmed their worst fears – global market and economic meltdown on trade mayhem seemed inevitable. But Trump has played a blinder of a trade game. He has surprised to the upside. Will it last?
Donald Trump never disappoints in terms of “interesting”. MAGA/Trump might unravel, and Trump spontaneously combust, due to Epstein – but conflict was what we knew Trump would bring to the table. The real risk to markets is probably the US Consumer. They are not as resilient as the rosy earnings season thinks.
Donald Trump’s BBC interview was… “surprising”. It was Trump, but elegiac? It won’t change the economic reality. The market is living in today – assuming the consequences of Trump policies will be limited. If they hit hard – which economy will suffer most? The USA or the UK?
Trump described Fed Head Jay Powell as "stupid" for not easing rates – Powell is playing safe, waiting for the Trump impulse to play through the economy. The standoff in Iran looks likely to prove Trump’s pivotal moment: is he a risk taker, or just noise? The stakes are massive - the upside is consolidation of US power, the downside includes acute embarrassment and MAGA disillusionment in the Presidency.











