This episode explores the market's reaction to Trump's announced reciprocal tariffs. Against the backdrop of previous tariff threats with little action, the market initially showed complacency, with investors expecting a 9-10% average effective tariff rate. More significantly, the actual announcement of a low 20% rate, effective April 9th, surprised the market, causing a sharper-than-expected downturn. The guest, Shawn Tuteja, analyzes this as a reasonable market reaction to worse-than-expected news, though he notes that the volatility market's calm response suggests it's not pure panic. For instance, he points to the reduced net exposure in March as evidence of de-risking. However, the potential for further negative impacts on GDP and earnings, coupled with the Fed's inability to easily cut interest rates, raises concerns. Ultimately, Tuteja suggests a nimble approach for investors, using market pops to reduce exposure and dips to scale into fundamentally strong companies.
