ECONOMICS

US tariffs on most Chinese goods are currently holding at 145%, but were not applied to goods transported by cargo ships already at sea.  This means that many of the products still flowing through US ports do not require companies to pay extra duties.  This is about to change, however, as the last ships from China that are free from tariff charges are now finally arriving to the West Coast.

The effects of the tariffs are already hitting China like a sledgehammer.  Numerous companies have (more…)

The US trade deficit widened to a record in March as companies rushed to import products as the Trump administration readied sweeping tariffs.

The goods and services trade gap grew 14% from the prior month to $140.5 billion (notably higher than the median estimate of a $137.2 billion deficit)

The value of imports jumped 4.4% to a record $419 billion, while exports edged up just 0.2% as firms scrambled to get ahead of President Trump's 'Liberation Day' (more…)

After the busiest week of Q1 earnings season, and a blockbuster week for macro, which included a stronger than expected jobs report, we enter a week that should see attention turn back towards central banks, with the latest Fed (Wed) and BoE (Thu) decisions due. These come as markets have largely shaken off the tariff-driven stress of the past few weeks, as rising optimism on tariff de-escalation and Friday’s solid US payrolls print brought the S&P 500 back above its pre-Liberation (more…)