Commenting on today’s trading Gorilla Trades strategist Ken Berman said:
The major indices are all sporting sizable gains at midday, thanks to a surprising announcement by the U.S. Trade Representative office. The Trump administration decided the new tariffs on some key consumer products, such as cell phones, laptops, and other electric devices and toys will only be levied from mid-December, while a small number of products will be completely excluded from the list. Apple (AAPL) surged higher by almost 5% in the wake of the announcement, not surprisingly, but all of the key risk sectors are in the green, with the firms most exposed to China leading the charge. The recently favored safe-haven assets such as Treasuries, gold, and the Japanese yen are all significantly lower thanks to the shift in sentiment.
Q2 hedge fund letters, conference, scoops etc
We also got positive news of the economy this morning, which confirm the resilience of the consumer sector. The headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) was in line with expectations, while the key core CPI was higher-than-expected, in stark contrast with last week’s Producer Price Index (PPI). The NFIB Small Business Index also increased following last month’s drop, and even though the measure slightly missed the consensus estimate, it remains very high from a long-term perspective. While the trade war is far from being over, today’s announcement could mean that the inflationary effects of the tariffs will be less pronounced, and that the two sides could once again start making progress following the recent escalation Stay tuned!
