Latest news with #policyuncertainty
Malay Mail
17 hours ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Even as markets rally, Trump's policy shifts keep investors on edge
Investors see rally to fresh highs as fragile Analysts describe environment of 'extreme policy uncertainty' Options market shows little sign of euphoria Wide bid/ask spreads, diminished liquidity characterise US stocks NEW YORK, June 28 — As Wall Street puts April's tariff shakeout in the rearview mirror and indexes set record highs, investors remain wary of US President Donald Trump's rapid-fire, sometimes chaotic policymaking process and see the rally as fragile. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite index advanced past their previous highs into uncharted territory on Friday. Yet traders and investors remain wary of what may lie ahead. Trump's April 2 reciprocal tariffs on major trading partners roiled global financial markets and put the S&P 500 on the threshold of a bear market designation when it ended down 19 per cent from its February 19 record-high close. This week's leg up came after a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Iran brought an end to a 12-day air battle that had sparked a jump in crude prices and raised worries of higher inflation. But a relief rally started after Trump responded to the initial tariff panic that gripped financial markets by backing away from his most draconian plans. JP Morgan Chase, in the midyear outlook published on Wednesday by its global research team, said the environment was characterised by 'extreme policy uncertainty.' 'Nobody wants to end a week with a risk-on tilt to their portfolios,' said Art Hogan, market strategist at B. Riley Wealth. 'Everyone is aware that just as the market feels more certain and confident, a single wildcard policy announcement could change everything,' even if it does not ignite a firestorm of the kind seen in April. Part of this wariness from institutional investors may be due to the magnitude of the 6 per cent S&P 500 rally that followed Trump's re-election last November and culminated in the last new high posted by the index in February, said Joseph Quinlan, market strategist at Bank of America. 'We were out ahead of our skis,' Quinlan said. A focus on deregulation, tax cuts and corporate deals brought out the 'animal spirits,' he said. Then came the tariff battles. Quinlan remains upbeat on the outlook for US stocks and optimistic that a new global trade system could lead to US companies opening new markets and posting higher revenues and profits. But he said he is still cautious. 'There will still be spikes of volatility around policy unknowns.' Overall, measures of market volatility are now well below where they stood at the height of the tariff turmoil in April, with the CBOE VIX index now at 16.3, down from a 52.3 peak on April 8. Unstable markets 'Our clients seem to have become somewhat desensitised to the headlines, but it's still an unhealthy market, with everyone aware that trading could happen based on the whims behind a bunch of' social media posts, said Jeff O'Connor, head of market structure, Americas, at Liquidnet, an institutional trading platform. Trading in the options market shows little sign of the kind of euphoria that characterised stock market rallies of the recent past. 'On the institutional front, we do see a lot of hesitation in chasing the market rally,' Stefano Pascale, head of US equity derivatives research at Barclays, said. Unlike past episodes of sharp market selloffs, institutional investors have largely stayed away from employing bullish call options to chase the market higher, Pascale said, referring to plain options that confer the right to buy at a specified future price and date. Bid/ask spreads on many stocks are well above levels O'Connor witnessed in late 2024, while market depth — a measure of the size and number of potential orders — remains at the lowest levels he can recall in the last 20 years. 'The best way to describe the markets in the last couple of months, even as they have recovered, is to say they are unstable,' said Liz Ann Sonders, market strategist at Charles Schwab. She said she is concerned that the market may be reaching 'another point of complacency' akin to that seen in March. 'There's a possibility that we'll be primed for another downside move,' Sonders addded. Mark Spindel, chief investment officer at Potomac River Capital in Washington, said he came up with the term 'Snapchat presidency' to describe the whiplash effect on markets of the president's constantly changing policies on markets. 'He feels more like a day trader than a long-term institutional investor,' Spindel said, alluding to Trump's policy flip-flops. 'One minute he's not going to negotiate, and the next he negotiates.' To be sure, traders seem to view those rapid shifts in course as a positive in the current rally, signaling Trump's willingness to heed market signals. 'For now, at least, stocks are willing to overlook the risks that go along with this style and lack of consistent policies, and give the administration a break as being 'market friendly',' said Steve Sosnick, market strategist at Interactive Brokers. — Reuters
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Opinion - Why the Federal Reserve risks falling behind the curve as recession fears rise
The disconnect between hard data (which capture measurable performance of the economy and are backward-looking) and soft data (which are typically based on sentiment and expectations and are often forward-looking) is creating challenges and generating data confusion among market participants and Federal Reserve officials. Even as households and firms turn increasingly pessimistic, the economic slowdown they fear hasn't yet fully materialized in the hard data. Gloomy sentiments do not always translate into actual spending or investment pullbacks. Advance estimate for the first quarter did show a contraction in the real GDP growth rate. However, the initial GDP growth rate estimate was significantly distorted by front-loading as importers raced to bring in foreign goods before Trump tariffs could fully take effect. As inventory adjustments take place in the second quarter, some of the first quarter distortions will dissipate. Yet, concerns remain as to whether bringing forward auto and other consumer goods purchases will leave American households and businesses with a hangover in the second quarter that may tilt the economy towards a recession. As the Trump administration's haphazard implementation of a poorly designed tariff structure unsettles financial markets and generates a spike in economic policy uncertainty indices, survey data suggests that American households are starting to fret about an economic slowdown and a revival of inflationary pressures. There has clearly been a sharp deterioration in the soft data and the hard data may soon start to catch up. Many wonder if we are inexorably heading towards a recession. In the U.S., the Business Cycle Dating Committee at the National Bureau of Economic Research officially designates the start and end dates of recessions and expansions. Unlike the oft-repeated media description of a recession as constituting two or more consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the bureau defines a recession as 'a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and that lasts more than a few months.' When determining cyclical turning points, the Business Cycle Dating Committee considers a broad set of measures, which include quarterly data (such as GDP and gross domestic income) as well as monthly data (such as real personal income less transfers, nonfarm payroll employment, real personal consumption expenditures and industrial production). The advantage of the definition of 'recession' cited above is that it is unlikely to be affected by data quirks associated with preliminary GDP estimates that may ultimately get resolved in future revisions. For instance, the initially reported two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth in the first half of 2022 was changed to just one quarter of negative print following data revisions. However, pronouncements of recession start dates can occur well after the downturn is underway — the determination that the Great Recession actually began in December 2007 was made in December 2008. In contrast, market participants and policymakers seek early indication of potential business cycle turning points. In fact, the holy grail of macroeconomic forecasting is to identify one or more recession indicators that will prove to be infallible and be able to offer a surefire signal of an impending economic downturn. Lamentably, in the post-pandemic era, prognosticators have been frequently confounded as many historically dependable indicators failed to deliver. Inverted yield curve, for instance, has a good historical track record of predicting U.S. recessions. Typically, the yield curve slopes upward since investors need to be compensated for taking on the risk of lending over a longer duration. However, prior to an impending downturn, yield curve inverts as investors come to believe that the monetary policy stance is too restrictive and thus likely to trigger an economic slowdown (which will ultimately force the Fed to cut policy rates). Despite its historical efficacy, yield curve inversions in the post-pandemic era have so far failed to correctly forecast a downturn. The yield spread between the 10-year T-note and the 3-month Treasury bill yield was negative between October 2022 and December 2024 (also, the yield differential between the 2-year and 10-year Treasury notes remained inverted for 25 months between July 2022 and August 2024). The yield curve usually does un-invert a few months prior to a recession. So, this indicator may still deliver, albeit belatedly. The so-called Sahm rule represents a statistical regularity — a recession is typically underway when the 3-month moving average of the unemployment rate rises by 0.5 percent or more above its low over the prior 12 months — that was first highlighted by former Fed economist Claudia Sahm. This indicator has also failed to deliver in recent months — the Sahm rule was triggered following the release of labor market data for July 2024 and yet the U.S. economy has remained resilient so far (4.2 percent unemployment rate in April 2025 was at the same level as in July 2024). Despite solid headline data, revisions to nonfarm payroll numbers, easing wage pressures, and a hiring pause suggest a cooling labor market. With traditional recession indicators misfiring, some suggest that online prediction markets like Polymarket or Kalshi may offer a more accurate pulse. Additionally, as Trump's trade war may generate supply-side bottlenecks, cargo traffic at major ports can help identify future economic vulnerabilities. Facing stagflation risk, and handicapped by data confusion and fallible recession indicators, the Fed has taken a wait-and-see approach and is willing to risk falling 'behind the curve.' Given the inherent lags associated with monetary policy, the danger is that delays in Fed action may turn out to be costly. Vivekanand Jayakumar, Ph.D., is an associate professor of economics at the University of Tampa. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
