I’m always skeptical of the way markets behave in response to politics. Such as the time on April 8 when stocks mysteriously fell just prior to when Marjorie Taylor Greene went in and made those equity investments. They will claim it is coincidence, but having lived through enough decades, I think I know better.
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They will claim Trump's tariff removal wasn't for the profit of any one party, but scroll back through his tweets and you'll discover that nudge: "Great time to buy," he tweeted, a short time before the levies were removed. It doesn't feel coincidental, not when you watch the same play being replayed repeatedly. It's a bit like the panic sell-offs of 2020, I exited my positions too quickly a week too late under the assumption of official declarations, but no more will I fall victim to that.
I understand that public figures can say market-moving comments. But when their so-called friends happen to swap around those moments, it can't be missed. Hassett reports that there was “nothing funny happening”, yeah right, that is supposed to reassure us. As if a couple of words on Fox News negate the evidence of the charts.
The alarming aspect in this is how quickly everyone moves on
The news cycle starts over, the pundits change direction, and the retail investors are left scrambling to pick up crumbs, while someone just cleared six figures in a week and likely did it by using a burner phone. I’m not being paranoid, but that's why trust in institutions continues to dwindle. And it's time to stop acting like the White House is beyond reproach. Republican or Democrat, doesn't matter, every president's group of folks in the know have their whisper trades. Every bull market leaves a train of private messages in its wake, perhaps this time none of it was illegal, but it doesn't mean it was pure.
Markets can definitely withstand bad news, but they can't withstand manipulated silence. When the big decisions are being created behind the curtains, the rest of us are mere props. I don't even feel angry anymore, just numb, and perhaps that is even worse.