The View from 5th Avenue – 21 April 2025

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We started the day in a somber state of mind, as the passing of Pope Francis hit the newswires. No matter one’s religious affiliation or lack thereof, his overarching message of compassion and inclusivity was a welcome one. With Europe largely closed for Easter Monday, there was the possibility of a serene session. But while volumes were certainly representative of that, stock moves were anything but, markets hemorrhaging from the start. There was little new to spark the selloff, but as we know…

The View from 5th Avenue – 17 April 2025

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A day full of headlines and not a lot of volume led to another choppy session for the main US averages. I guess the question is where to start so let just start from the beginning. This morning markets breathed a small sigh of relief as talks with Japan around tariffs and trade yielded some positive news. Both sides expressed good progress in the ongoing negotiations with President Trump saying “big progress” was made but concerns remain around the tight 90-day timeline. This morning’s economic…

The View from 5th Avenue – 16 April 2025

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Even as tariff announcements from Washington have quieted, the ramifications continue to move through the markets. China remains a US focus, and this has forced Nvidia to warn they would be taking a $5.5b charge in Q1 because of US licensing restrictions on their China specific H20 chip. The semi heavyweight fell 6% pre-market and weighed on broader sentiment and the S&P 500 opened down 1%, and Nasdaq down 1.9%. Investors finally received some economic data starting with Chinese GDP/ Retail Sal…

The View from 5th Avenue – 10 April 2025

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Markets started the day firmly in the red after a record setting reversal day following Trump’s decision to pause tariffs with cooperating countries for 90 days, while increasing the pressure on China by increasing the levy to 125%. Halfway through the day the market rallied off the lows but struggled to gain any real traction as the S&P 500 closed below the 5300 level. US inflation cooled broadly in March, with the consumer price index (CPI) excluding food and energy costs increasing 0.1% fro…

The View from 5th Avenue – 9 April 2025

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Ladies and gentlemen hold on to your hats. Trump set the table early with a 10am tweet on Truth Social that “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” but it was his early afternoon declaration of a 90 day PAUSE and reciprocal tariffs immediately lowered to 10% that sent equities flying. Trump also opted to raise tariffs on China to 125%, further escalating a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. China aside, what has previously been a hard line of 25% levies across the board is now a line…

The View from 5th Avenue – 3 April 2025

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As soon as the Rose Garden ceremony ended last night, investors knew they had a tough day in front of them. “Liberation Day” was announced, along with tariffs, and futures immediately dropped. That weakness continued into today’s session and did not end until the closing bell rung. As traders sit back, take a breath, and review the damage, there is little to be happy about. There were a couple sectors in the green, Staples (XLP +58bps) and Telcos (1.7%), but the downside underperformance was de…

The View from 5th Avenue – 2 April 2025

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Hear ye! Hear ye! The United States has finally been liberated…maybe? This day of tariffs has been marked with a red X on everyone’s calendar long before March 19th when President Trump officially dubbed it “Liberation Day”, but that doesn’t mean we’re anymore prepared then the first day it was announced. US stocks experienced continued volatility as traders are in wait-and-see mode ahead of the 4pm announcement which is expected to significantly impact global trade. Tariff ranging from 10- 20%…