Capitalogix

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - April 6th, 2025

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• Trump May Deport Duke Basketball Star After Brutal March Madness Loss. (TheDailyBeast)
• Rich Americans Die Like Poor Europeans. (AgingWithStrength)
• An AI Avatar Tried to Argue a Case Before a New York Court. The Judges Weren't Having It. (Yahoo)
• 'Most Disturbing Website on Internet' Can Find Almost Every Single Picture that Exists of You. (Unilad)
• The 2 Words that Spark Anxiety—and the 8 Words that Calm It. (PsychologyToday)

Trading Links:

• Stocks Lose $9.6 Trillion — How to Limit the Next Plunge’s Pain.(Forbes)
• Jeff Bezos' Amazon Quietly Launches Plan to Take Down Elon Musk. (TheStreet)
• UK Prime Minister to Admit ‘Globalization is Over’ in Response to Trump Tariffs: Report. (FoxNews)
• The Dark Money Behind Duke Basketball. (Wall Street Journal)
• $159,832,873 Bitcoin Transfer to Major US Exchange Sparks Black Monday Fears. (Investing)

How Are You Feeling About The Tariffs?

Trump announced his reciprocal tariffs this week, and the world went into an uproar and the market into a tailspin. As an immediate result, JP Morgan switched its economic prediction from "Solid Growth" to "Recession Risk"

My take: Actions Have Consequences. More importantly,  we don't know all the actions ... and we certainly haven't recognized all the consequences. This is the beginning of something bigger than it seems, and many of the outcomes are beyond our current expectations or comprehension.

Sure, we saw some fundamental shifts last week ... but know that we are in for more.

The moves were big and fast enough that most people I know haven't had the time or brain cells to ponder things long and deep enough to form a well-reasoned opinion.

The only thing I "know" is that I expect more volatility and big moves.

With that in mind, here are some charts to help keep you informed as the consequences unfold. 

 

Chart #1 - Global Stock Market Returns in Q1 of 2025

via visualcapitalist

Chart #2 - Trump's Reciprocal Tariffs on Major Nations

via visualcapitalist

Chart #3 - Tariff Shock Wipes $5.3 Trillion Off S&P 500: Index Falls 10.5% in Two Days

via visualcapitalist

Looking at the first chart, it's clear that prior to this announcement, there was a U.S. sell-off, perhaps caused by concerns about inflation and slower GDP growth. As a result, more investment was moving toward Chinese and European stocks. 

After Trump's announcement, many things happened, including a joint response from China, Japan, and Korea - something I never thought I'd see. Also, many internet netizens started to plug questions into AI LLMs and receive similar results as Trump's tariffs. Contrary to a more complex equation, it appeared as if the tariff rates were calculated by dividing the deficit and imports of a country. Ultimately, this math was confirmed by the White House Deputy Press Secretary, Kush Desai. 

It will be interesting to see what is walked back and what is doubled down on over the next few weeks. 

Do you have faith?  Do you have an opinion?  I'd love to hear it!