Barron’s (March 17)
“They’ve gone from the Mag Seven to the Lag Seven.” Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon.com, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Tesla collectively represented over “half of the S& P 500’s gain of 23% in 2024 as they rose an average of 60%.” This year they are “down an average of 15%” and “now account for about 95% of the index’s decline of 6% in 2025.” However, the Mag Seven “aren’t destined to fail or fade into insignificance. They remain too dominant…and too reasonably priced, with six of the seven trading for 18 to 30 times projected 2025 earnings. (Tesla, at 85 times, is the notable exception.)”
Tags: 2024, 2025, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, Decline, Dominant, Earnings, Fade, Fail, Lag Seven, Mag Seven, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Reasonably priced, S&P 500, Tesla
Time (March 15)
“Amid widespread economic turmoil, the price of gold has soared to levels never seen before,” with Gold futures exceeding $3,000 per troy ounce. Prices for this safe haven investment “are spiking higher now as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have kicked off an international trade war that has roiled financial markets and threatened to reignite inflation for families and businesses alike.”
Tags: 000 oz t, 3%, Economic, Gold, Inflation, Investment, Markets, Price, Roiled, Safe haven, Soared, Spiking, Tariff policies, Trade war, Trump, Turmoil, U.S., Widespread
Financial Times (March 14)
“It now appears that neither a slowing economy nor plunging stock prices are enough to deter US President Donald Trump from his radical economic agenda.” His “hotchpotch of economic measures” have already “raised the spectre of stagflation, wiped $5tn off the S&P 500, and undermined the nation’s standing with global investors.” If there was an “intelligible” strategy, “the short-term pain might be easier to digest,” but so far his actions lack “any coherent theory of change.”
Tags: $5tn, Deter, Global investors, Hotchpotch, Intelligible, Plunging stock prices, Radical economic agenda, S&P 500, Slowing Economy, Stagflation, Trump, Undermined, US
Washington Post (March 14)
President Trump may be hoping to copy Argentinian President Javier Milei’s success at beating inflation and rejuvenating an economy. Trump now seems “willing to risk a recession to see his vision come to pass,” but his approach is more likely to “backfire and harm the economy for years to come. Recessions hurt. They have long-lasting effects.” On top of that, the President is focused on restoring yesteryear’s jobs. He “is fixated on returning to the economy of the 1990s — or even the 1890s. The only thing worse than undergoing a forced recession would be a forced recession that leaves America less competitive.”
Tags: 1990s, Argentina, Backfire, Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Less competitive, Milei, Recession, Risk, Trump, Vision
Institutional Investor (March 12)
“February was a disaster for many biopharma, life sciences, and other health care hedge funds. Most lost money, several by double-digit rates, and as a result were in the red heading into March.” Whether the Trump administration will “slow down or pause the approval process for drugs currently in development” is making investors “jittery.” On top of that, “the stock market’s general volatility and sell-off have been especially rough on fledgling companies with little or no revenue and earnings — including this sector — exacerbating investor concerns.”
Tags: Approval process, Biopharma, Development, Disaster, Drugs, February, Health care, Hedge funds, Investors, Jjittery, Life sciences, Sell-off, Stock market, Trump administration, Volatility
New York Times (March 11)
“A new round of tariffs on aluminum and steel went into effect overnight. This time, no U.S. trading partner was spared.” The EU will respond with “$28 billion in retaliatory levies next month on American products, including bourbon, jeans and agricultural products.” While EU officials “hope they can still strike a deal…. President Trump seems determined to stick with his protectionist policies.” Immediate market reaction was muted, though “the sell-off has wiped roughly $4 trillion off the benchmark index in less than a month — as concerns grow that the levies will push up prices and slow growth.”
Tags: $4 trillion, Agricultural products, Aluminum, Bourbon, EU, Growth, Jeans, Market reaction, Prices, Protectionist policies, Retaliatory levies, Sell-off, Steel, Tariffs, Trading partner, Trump, U.S.
Reuters (March 10)
“Wall Street futures sank and the safe-haven yen and Swiss franc strengthened early on Monday as building deflationary pressures in China added to growth worries from a fading U.S. economy and an escalating global trade war.”
Tags: China, Deflationary pressures, Economy, Escalating, Fading, Futures, Global trade war, Growth, Safe haven, Strengthened, Swiss franc, U.S., Wall Street, Worries, Yen
Wall Street Journal (March 10)
Mr. Trump issued a new executive order directing the Treasury Department to take the first steps in establishing what he refers to as “a crypto version of Fort Knox.” This proposal “invites government abuse.” Basically, a “government crypto reserve serves no good purpose while creating an opportunity for political bad behavior. Let private investors speculate all they want without the government having a stake in crypto-currency prices.”
Tags: Abuse, Bad behavior, Crypto, Crypto reserve, Currency, Executive order, Fort Knox, Government, Investors, Prices, Private, Speculate, Stake, Treasury Department, Trump
Fortune (March 9)
“U.S. outperformance in the global economy and across financial markets is fading as President Donald Trump’s tariffs weigh on growth prospects and send investors to seek gains elsewhere. U.S. stocks are down so far this year and the Nasdaq slipped into correction territory, while European and Chinese stocks are soaring.”
Tags: Soaring
Investment Week (March 6)
“January was a disappointing month for asset managers as cautious investors withdrew £3bn from markets, according to figures from the Investment Association (IA)…. Active funds in general, and equities, particularly UK equities, were hardest hit.” UK equity funds suffered their “ninth-year of outflows in 2024” while investors have been “reacting to high levels of uncertainty” with “factors including confusion over interest rate cuts, the impact of then-anticipated tariffs from the newly elected President Trump and a market shake up.”
Tags: Shake-up
