Market Insider

Market and Politics Report- May 2025    An extremely eventful month for the markets, Washington, and trade. From trade deals, overseas trips, to the passage of the "one-big-beautiful bill" in the house, May was by far a pretty action-packed month.  To recap the earlier parts of the month, the Fed kept rates steady, at 4.25-4.50%, and the US made trade deals with the UK, as well as China. The Fed's news about the stabilization of the economy, in contrast to earlier activity in April because of the US tariffs, kept the major indexes and markets steady. Then with the major trade deals with the UK and China brokered by the Trump Administration, markets spiked, returning to pre-tariff levels once again. Also, CPI data for April came in early May at 2.3%, lower than expected. This helped to ease some consumer fears of recession and higher prices long-term. From May 13 to May 16, President Trump and various Fortune 500 CEO's, including Jensen Huang (NVDA) and Lisa Su (AMD), ...

  What a busy start to May 2025! Major developments, such as the May Fed Meeting, the US-UK trade deal on VE Day, and the long-awaited US-China trade deal sparked movement in the market, as well as in politics.  During the last Fed Meeting on May 7th, interest rates were held steady, at 4.25%-4.5%. Chairman Powell noted that the inflation rate is not particularly concerning right now, risks for higher inflation rates and higher economic uncertainty are not off the table going forward. This is due to the economic volatility caused by the reciprocal tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration on April 2nd. Powell says that Trump's policy is "in a good place," and that the Fed will act accordingly to developments in the coming months, though not hinting at lowering interest rates in the future. On May 8th, President Trump announced that the US and the UK have signed a trade deal, with the goal of bolstering economic security for both nations, as well as ensuring a fair and o...

Market and Politics Report- April 2025  April 2025, a tumultuous and unpredictable month in politics and on Wall Street. In early April, the Trump Administration rolled out tariffs on over 100 countries, sending global markets and governments into a frenzy. Major indexes took major hits, on multiple occasions throughout the month, while also having major recoveries on some trading days. Through this volatility, the major indexes, on average, lost between 1-3%, with the NASDAQ getting hit the hardest. This was likely due to tech stocks taking major losses due to fears of supply chain security with Asia, since the tariffs have slowed down trade of crucial technology supplies (like computer chips) from Asia to the US. A notably hard hit stock in the US was Tesla, down over 45% from its high due to growing concern over tariffs, and CEO Elon Musk's involvement with the Trump administration as a senior advisor to the President and head of DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). To me...

This has been the face of many traders over the past couple of days on Wall Street, and across the world. On April 2, 2025, President Trump unveiled his highly anticipated reciprocal tariffs on foreign imports, with all nations facing a minimum 10% tariffs on all goods they export to the US. Some countries, such as China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Canada, Mexico, and Cambodia have faced higher tariffs. For example, a 46% tariff was placed on Vietnamese imports.  President Trump deemed April 2nd, "Liberation Day," claiming that the US had been ripped off by other nations through trade for decades, and that the US was finally "free" from trade imbalances and from getting "cheated" by other nations. However, global markets reaction to the tariffs was not one of excitement and promise, but of fear and distress.  From April 3rd to April 4th, global markets saw a sharp decline, with all major US indexes in correction territory, especially the Russell 2000 Index in a b...

    After multiple tumultuous and unpredictable weeks, the stock market is showing signs of recovery, and of positive momentum. Economic indicators, such as GDP growth, unemployment, and inflation, show signs of decreasing uncertainty, after the market's panic over the Trump tariffs. This past week, in particular, the Fed left interest rates unchanged, between 4.25%-4.5%. With that being said, the lack of change in Fed interest rates prompted markets to quell some of the fears of recession, and prolonged economic turmoil.  Investors, prior to the Federal Reserve's March meeting, feared major indexes, such as the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ, sliding deeper into correction territory, the US economy teetering on the break of recession, and the emergence of stagflation. For clarification, stagflation is when the economy experiences high inflation, and high unemployment, mixed with little to no economic growth. A prominent example of this occurred during the Oil Crisis of 1973 ...