The Market Brief
Hey team. U.S. stock index futures slipped on Friday after President Donald Trump ramped up his tariff push, unsettling investors just ahead of next week’s earnings season.
Let’s see what’s ahead for this market!
Macro Viewpoint
U.S. equities pulled back from record highs as President Donald Trump intensified his trade offensive.
Trump announced plans to introduce a 35% tariff on Canadian imports starting next month. He also suggested raising the general tariff rate on other countries to 15% or even 20%, up from the current 10% baseline.
The move adds a layer of uncertainty just as investor enthusiasm for equities remains strong, driven by faith in the resilience of the U.S. economy and growing optimism ahead of earnings season.
Wall St. Prime Intel
Following our post from yesterday that highlighted the importance of volatility compression and how that was a key data point that helped us forecast new all-time highs since April (literally), we still believe there is room to go before we’re anywhere near overweight.
Vol-controlled strategies within the US are currently long ~90bn, and would have to buy $25bn more to sit back at historical peak levels if we continue in this low vol regime.
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