Stocks remain stuck in the mud, following the recent 10% correction and the partial recovery since. Crude oil is a bit higher along with gold and silver, while Treasuries are down modestly. Bitcoin is holding in the high-$80,000s.
Consumer confidence is already tanking, with the Conference Board’s monthly index dropping sharply to its lowest level since 2021 in March. Will business confidence be next? That’s what this Wall Street Journal story suggests.
Corporate America rejoiced after the elections in 2024. Executives expected a wide range of beneficial initiatives from the Trump Administration, including tax cuts, deregulation, and a more-bluster-than-bite approach to tariffs and trade. But tax cut progress has stalled in Washington – and the tariff assumptions proved wildly off target. Markets will be closely watching what happens on April 2, the date Trump has pledged to release a major update on trade policy.
Copper Futures
Copper is joining gold in record territory – in part because of yet another round of promised tariffs. The president is weighing a tariff of up to 25% on copper imports...and he could implement it much sooner than markets previously expected.
That’s driving up the price of a metal used in everything from residential and commerical buildings to Electric Vehicles (EVs). US copper futures recently traded at $5.29 per pound, up 31% year-to-date. The rise is also driving up the price of companies that mine the metal – and ETFs that own them.
Lastly, bargain retailer Dollar Tree Inc. (DLTR) finally threw in the towel on Family Dollar. It bought the competing low-price store chain for more than $8 billion in 2015. But it just decided to sell it to private equity firms Brigade Capital Management and Macellum Capital Management for only $1 billion. Dollar Tree previously said it would close hundreds of Family Dollar stores amid ongoing losses and operational struggles.
