'Volatility is back': Dow closes down more than 400 points as Trump's steel tariff sends tremors...

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post




‘Volatility is back’: Dow closes down more than 400 points as Trump’s steel tariff sends tremors through markets

By Thomas Heath March 1 at 4:00 PM

Major stock indexes plunged Thursday afternoon following President Trump’s announcement that he was imposing a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum.

Investor concern about the news rattled the Dow Jones industrial average, which closed down more than 400 points, or 1.7 percent, at 24,608. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index and tech-heavy Nasdaq both finished down about 1.3 percent.

“Traders are, again, focused on talk of tariffs while investors are focused on earnings growth, continuing low inflation and highly accommodative interest rates,” said Daniel P. Wiener, chief executive officer of Adviser Investments, a Newton, Mass.-based firm that manages more than $5 billion in assets. “Volatility is back, but that shouldn’t sway investors from their longer-range objectives.”

The Dow was already reeling from a 380 point decline on Wednesday on fears of continued interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. New Fed chairman Jerome Powell spoke this week before Congress, where he left open the possibility of four rate hikes this year instead of three.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2018/03/01/dow-drops-500-points-on-news-of-trumps-steel-tariffs/?utm_term=.edbb05210572&wpisrc=al_economy%2Fbusiness__alert-politics--alert-economy&wpmk=1

[bucolic_frolic]

1. I always wondered

what the catalyst would be that pricks the bubble. Actually, though, I don't think this display of presidential incompetence is such an item. I think there will be many over the next few months. There was actually a chart circulating late today of the strong market rebounds over the last 40 years when the first day of the month declined by more than 1.3% I think it was.

But the hubris and stupidity at the top of the country is appalling. Soon there will be few to execute his unwise proclamations because most have left, and hopefully the few remaining will humor him rather than follow blindly.

Wonder what Rosenstein and Sessions discussed last night. My bet would be differing aspects of Constitutional law, Founders' intent, and how the various parts of the political spectrum work within that framework. Or at least I hope so because those guys have a duty to our political system and to defend the Republic both domestic and abroad.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. The catalyst for the Great Depression was Hoot-Smalley tariffs & trade barriers. . . . nt

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Yes, true, in retrospect

Smoot-Hawley is a primary factor that takes years to play out, but pricking the market bubble is a daily or weekly thing.

Also of note in the 1920s was the Fed's growth of credit and tightening in the first half of 1929. QE was not an option, even FDR when he took office and throughout his administration was a relative fiscal conservative, he was always reigning in deficits with business taxes. Note that Social Security was a legal right that workers paid for, not a government handout.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. You own it Trumpo

Can't blame Obama for this.

[TomCADem]

7. Isn't Trump Actually Stealing Bernie Sander's Ideas? What Has Bernie Said?

Trump announced the imposition of tariffs on steel imports, which is a move that Bernie Sanders has long championed.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/03/31/bernie-sanders-pledges-rewrite-disastrous-trade-deals/82473012/

Along with NAFTA, Sanders said he also would rewrite CAFTA, permanent normal trade relations with China, and the Korean Free Trade Agreement.

He didn’t specify what changes he would make but said U.S. workers shouldn't be forced to compete against people making “pennies an hour.” He also criticized deals that lead corporations to move to countries such as China where there are “virtually no environmental standards” compared to the U.S.

“That is not fair competition,” he said.

His campaign says Sanders also would impose countervailing tariffs on imports from China and Japan “until they stop dumping steel into the United States and stop manipulating their currencies.”

In addition, Bernie has been keeping pressure on Trump to not stop with tearing up TPP, but to also tear up NAFTA, which Trump still has yet to do. Bernie Sanders should call attention to this that Trump is simply stealing from Bernie's playbook, so that when economic exceeds 3% as Bernie predicted under his policies, Bernie gets the credit.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-13/bernie-sanders-to-trump-on-nafta-for-once-keep-your-promise

Bernie Sanders Tells Trump to Keep His Promise on Nafta

President Donald Trump is finding an unlikely ally in his efforts to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement: the political left.

Civil-society groups, union leaders and left-wing politicians have opposed almost everything Trump has done. But they’re urging him to stand firm in his attempt to overhaul Nafta -- and face down opposition from business groups, who complain that U.S. companies will be hurt by the proposed changes. Mexico and Canada have called U.S. demands unworkable, including on regional-content requirements for cars and investor-state dispute systems.

Senator Bernie Sanders, an outspoken critic of trade deals in his campaign for president last year, called on Trump to deliver. “When Donald Trump campaigned for president, he promised that he was going to stop corporations from shifting American jobs to Mexico,” Sanders said Wednesday at a rally for the #ReplaceNafta movement in Washington. “For once in your life, keep your promises.”

[quaker bill]

5. wait for the response...

If you think this was notable, wait for the first retaliation.

[LuckyLib]

6. You could ask Drumpf three questions about the impact of his decision. He would not

be able to offer any coherent thoughts. He's a complete idiot and does things just to blather on about doing something.