With the Vix volatility index racing to a red-light-flashing level of 45 and up to 20% falls for consumer stocks with global supply chains from Apple to Nike after China started 34% retaliatory tariffs, the message is also cold comfort to US portfolios burned for those that bought all the January outlook calls from private and investment banks.
US President Donald Trump’s message is that the country’s market volatility is temporary. “It won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic,” he said. It is, in his words, “an economic revolution” which the US “will win.”
This remark has been cold comfort to investors, including many Republicans who traditionally are the party of business and Wall Street. The two-day falls since Liberation Day last week, with all three major US stock indices plunging more than 5% on Friday, capped the worst week for the US stock market since the Covid Shock 2020.
