Barron’s (January 2)
“If last year was full of fireworks that ultimately resulted in another big gain for the stock market, 2026 appears set to be a dud. Looking back at 2025, the fact that the S&P 500 index gained 16% feels like a small miracle. The Donald Trump experience has led to wild swings—who can forget the near bear-market in April after the president announced the first iteration of tariffs?” Looking ahead, “we’d expect a relatively flat year, with the S&P 500 finishing down about 2%.”
Tags: 16%, 2%, 2025, 2026, April, Bear market, Big gain, Dud, Fireworks, Flat, S&P 500, Stock market, Tariffs, Trump
Washington Post (December 23)
U.S. “tariffs have generated about $25 billion a month since April,” which may seem big. But these monthly takes are really “more like rounding errors than game changers. The gross domestic product of the United States in 2025 will be about $31 trillion.”
Tags: $25 billion, $31 trillion, 2025, April, Big, Game changers, Gross domestic product, Rounding errors, Tariffs, U.S.
Investment Week (July 11)
The UK was the “fastest growing G7 economy in Q1 2025, but this memory now seems distant. “Industry professionals have reacted with disappointment to the latest monthly UK GDP figures for May, which showed the economy contracted by 0.1%,” following on top of April’s 0.3% decline. Production output tumbled, “falling by 0.9% after an unchanged fall of 0.6% in April, while the construction sector dipped by 0.6% in May from a 0.8% growth the month before.”
Tags: April, Construction, Contracted, Decline, Disappointment, Fastest-growing, G7 economy, GDP, May, Output, Production, Q1 2025, Tumbled, UK
Reuters (May 29)
“The U.S. dollar’s unusual moves in April, when it fell in tandem with stocks, has cast doubt over a long-lasting relationship between the greenback and risky assets. Over time, it might nudge non-U.S. investors to hedge more or reduce their exposure to American stocks and bonds. Both could create a self-reinforcing downward cycle for the dollar.”
Tags: April, Bonds, Dollar, Doubt, Downward cycle, Exposure, Greenback, Hedge, Non-U.S. investors, Relationship, Risky assets. Over, Self-reinforcing, Stocks, Unusual moves
South China Morning Post (May 19)
“China’s economy mostly remained resilient in April, despite feeling the effects of the astronomical tariffs in place before last week, when Washington and Beijing agreed to remove or pause most of the duties imposed as part of their tempestuous trade war.” Though consumption softened, manufacturing fared better than expected. “China’s industrial output rose 6.1 per cent, beating estimates, while domestic consumption up 5.1 per cent–slightly below expectations.”
Tags: Agreed, April, Beijing, China, Consumption, Duties, Economy, Estimates, Industrial output, Manufacturing, Resilient, Tariffs, Trade war, Washington
Detroit Free Press (May 17)
“As car buyers rush to get in front of tariffs — which are widely expected to boost sticker prices — the flood of demand has been pushing new vehicle prices ever higher, with the trend unlikely to stop any time soon.” The average new vehicle sales price “in April surged 2.5% to $48,699 compared with March. Prices rose 1.1% compared with April 2024,” making it “the strongest April sales since 2021.”
Tags: $48, 2.5%, 2021, 699 Rose, April, Boost, Car buyers, Demand, Flood, Higher, New vehicle, Prices, Rush, Sticker prices, Strongest April, Surged, Tariffs
Financial Times (May 9)
“China’s exports grew sharply in April despite Donald Trump’s ‘liberation’ day tariffs on shipments to the US, strengthening Beijing’s hand ahead of crucial trade negotiations due to start this weekend.” Chinese companies were able to divert “trade flows to south-east Asia, Europe and other destinations following the imposition of prohibitively high tit-for-tat tariffs between the world’s two largest economies.” Though year on year exports to the U.S. dropped by 21% in April, China’s overall global exports increased 8.1%.”
Tags: April, Beijing, China, Divert, Europe, Exports, Liberation day, Shipments, South-east Asia, Tariffs, Trade negotiations, Trump, U.S.
South China Morning Post (May 17)
“A larger fall of property investment and a slowdown of consumption continued to haunt China’s economic activities in April, despite Beijing having stepped up actions to boost consumer goods sales, upgrade equipment and solve the widely watched property slowdown.”
Tags: April, Beijing, Boost, China, Consumer goods, Consumption, Economic activities, Equipment, Fall, Haunt, Investment, Property, Sales, Slowdown
New York Times (May 2)
“The recent performance of the stock market, which in April took its biggest monthly dive in two years, is hinting at economic trouble ahead, and is the latest complication in the Fed’s fight against inflation.”
Tags: April, Complication, Dive, Economic trouble, Fed, Fight, Inflation, Performance, Stock market
The Week (May 23)
In April, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose more sharply than it has in 13 years, “putting data behind the warnings that many economists and businesses have been issuing for weeks.” Inflation is dramatically here. “The question is how long it will stay.” The increase may stem from random coincidences (like a pipeline shut down and insufficient chip supply) or they could be transient symptoms of economic rebooting. But the upward swing might also prove harbinger of runaway inflation to come.
Tags: April, Businesses, Chip supply, CPI, Economists, Increase, Inflation, Pipeline, Random, Rebooting, Transient, Warnings
