April 1, 2025 | AAPL, Daily JAM |
By itself, the display stand in the main Vodafone store in Venice doesn’t prove much. But with the context of European anger at U.S tariffs and consumer boycott of U.S. goods in countries like Denmark, I found the empty rack fro Apple’s iPhone and the big display of phones from China’s Xiaomi, well, suggestive.
March 30, 2025 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
It’s not clear who White House advisor Peter Navarro speaks for but on Sunday he spoke up loudly for more tariffs. On Fox News Navarro claimed Sunday that President Donald Trump’s new tariffs would raise more than $6 trillion in federal revenue over the next decade. Exactly why that’s a good idea wasn’t clear from Navarro’s appearance since it would amount to the largest peacetime tax hike in modern U.S. history.
March 30, 2025 | Daily JAM, FXY, Perfect Five-ETFs, Short Term, UUP |
On Monday, March 31, I will sell the Invesco DB U.S. Dollar Index BullishFund ETF (UUP) out of the Perfect 5 ETF Portfolio and replace it with the Invesco CurrencyShares Japanese Yen ETF (FXY). I will leave the portfolio weighting at 25%. The yen ETF is up 5.32% in the last three months as of the close on March 28. It charges a 0.40% expense ratio.
March 29, 2025 | Daily JAM, Short Term |
Wall Street is, clearly, afraid that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are going to significantly slow the U.S. economy. Those fears drove the Standard & Poor’s 500 down another 1.97% on Friday and sent the NASDAQ Composite down 2.70%. But I think that there’s still a large percentage of investors who think the tariffs won’t be as bad as their advance press suggests, either because they believe they’re simply negotiating ploys or because President Trump has history of barking worse than he bites. Frankly, I think those investors are wrong.
March 28, 2025 | Daily JAM |
The next big round of Trump tariffs and the March jobs numbers will be the big events of the week.
March 26, 2025 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
President Donald Trump will announce auto tariffs on Wednesday afternoon, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said during a briefing with reporters at the White House.
Details of the tariffs are unclear–who following White House “policy” on tariffs is surprised at that? Stock markets fell on news. The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed down 1.12%. The NASDAQ Composite dropped 2.04%.
March 24, 2025 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
President Donald Trump said on Monday that any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela will pay a 25% tariff on exports to the United States.
This “secondary tariff” will take effect on April 2, the president announced in a Truth Social post.
March 23, 2025 | Daily JAM |
This week I expect the March lull before the April storm.
March 20, 2025 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
That didn’t take long. Wednesday afternoon the Federal Reserve decided to keep its benchmark interest rate steady–no rate cut. Wednesday night President Donald Trump renewed his call for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates as he criticized the central bank’s decision. “The Fed would be MUCH better off CUTTING RATES as U.S.Tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Do the right thing.” Trump added: “April 2nd is Liberation Day in America!!!” President Trump’s criticism of the Fed’s decision certainly isn’t a surprise.
March 19, 2025 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
The Washington Post is reporting today that White House aides are preparing new tariffs on most imports to be announced on April 2, laying the groundwork for an escalation in global tariffs that President Donald Trump has called “Liberation Day.”
March 15, 2025 | Daily JAM |
I expect less drama than markets now fear from Wednesday’s meeting of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate-setting Open Market Committee.
March 13, 2025 | Daily JAM |
President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 200% tariff on wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages from France and elsewhere in the European Union, if Brussels follows through with a tariff on American whiskey exports, a measure aimed at retaliating against Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs that went into effect on Wednesday. What to do? This is serious. Life without champagne! Sacre bleu! We need a solution.