Full of Bull Market

Buy low, sell high. Does that adage still apply to the stock market? These days, buy when a company’s CEO is kissing the president’s ass and sell when the president is calling for the ouster of a company’s CEO probably works just as well. Or maybe buy on bribes, sell on ethics? Or you could just buy all crypto and not sell ever, or at least until the crypto industry proves less adept at buying the legislation they want. If you really want to keep busy, you can just buy and sell based on tariff announcements, the real ones and the ones that are immediately changed via executive Truth Social post. Trump’s latest tariffs just kicked in, raising import taxes to the highest level since Great Depression. OK, wait. In this new market, is mimicking policies of the Great Depression depressing, or are we just making Depressions Great Again? Don’t waste time asking your favorite AI program to ponder such philosophical financial questions. Just buy. “The president’s levies — which are expected to drive up prices for American consumers, and have spooked many businesses around the world — officially took effect just after midnight.” But the market wasn’t spooked. We’ve long been told that the American market likes logic, stability, certainty, and a strong rule of law. Well, to paraphrase Willy Wonka, “Strike that, re-invest it.”

+ “Can anything stop the stock market? The U.S. economy recently weathered the worst pandemic in 100 years, the worst inflation in 40 years, and the highest interest rates in 20 years. Yet from 2019 through 2024, the S&P 500 grew by an average of nearly 20 percent a year, about double its historical average rate. Despite President Donald Trump’s erratic economic policies, which include the highest tariffs since the 19th century, the market is already up by about 8 percent in 2025.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Does the Stock Market Know Something We Don’t? Confused? Don’t worry. Even confusion is a buy signal.