The S&P 500 has lost about 5% since last month’s record high, but it’s still up about 4% year to date. It’s painful, but still short of a typical correction (-10%). The culprit? News reports cite the 80 bps rise in 10-yr bond yields this year, Fed tightening, rising tariffs, and the flatter yield curve. I don’t buy most of that. Bond yields are still unusually low, and the driver of higher yields is rising real yields, which reflect a stronger economy; why should a stronger economy be bad for stocks? The Fed hasn’t even begun to tighten, since the real Fed funds rate is only slightly above zero; short-term borrowing costs are almost free. The yield curve has flattened, but it is still positively sloped; the all-important real yield curve is still nicely positive—no implied threat there. Rising tariffs are a genuine problem, to be sure, but that’s still in the nature of a headwind rather than impending doom. Tariffs can be dismantled as fast as they are applied, and Trump has made good—if hardly perfect—progress bringing down tariffs with Canada, Mexico, and the Eurozone. China is the main problem, and it boils down to a big game of tariff chicken. It’s in no one’s interest to escalate this conflict to outright tariff wars. I remain confident that the future of global trade will be “freer and fairer.” The truth about tariffs is that a) they mainly hurt the country that applies them, and b) lower tariffs are always better for all concerned. I’m not ready to bet that Trump and China will refuse to come to an agreement that would be mutually beneficial. Right now, my best guess is that this is just another panic attack, of which we’ve had quite a few in recent years. They’ve all
