While many investors are rattled by the big downturn in the stock market, Edward Jones CEO Penny Pennington is taking it in stride. Pennington, who spoke to Fortune Wednesday, suggested investors might want to treat the stock slump as a buying opportunity, though crypto may not be part of the strategy.
Edward Jones, a broker dealer, has been telling clients to expect a correction, Pennington said. The stock market, for the past few years, has been “so sanguine and so calm,” that it was time for “a bit of a market pullback,” she said Wednesday.
This week, the broad market has experienced much volatility with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite hitting correction territory. The Nasdaq had dropped over 13% by March 10 from a record high in December, meaning the index had met the definition of correction. (A market correction is defined as a drop of 10% or more from peak levels.) The S&P 500 also hit correction territory Thursday, falling 10% from its record high in February. On Thursday afternoon, many of the major indices were trading in the red, including the Nasdaq which was off 1.75% and the S&P 500 which was down 01.27%.
The stock drop appears tied in part to President Trump’s imposition of a myriad of tariffs including a huge 25% levy on all steel and aluminum imports.
The sweeping tariffs, coupled with Trump’s radical move to dismantle parts of the federal government through Elon Musk’s “DOGE” program, likely played a significant role in spooking U.S. investors.
“We believe that we came into this period of volatility, first of all, knowing that this administration was going to make some moves that were different than the last four years,” Pennington told Fortune.
The Edward Jones CEO said she does think U.S. stocks are experiencing a correction but are not tipping into a recession. The U.S. labor market remains robust, while inflation is coming down, and consumers are still spending, Pennington said.
“We think the fundamentals of that are still in place, but we do think that growth is probably throttling back a little bit,” Pennington said.
Doubting Crypto
Founded in 1922, Edward Jones has more than 20,000 financial advisors across North America, and $2.2 trillion in client assets under care as of December 31. Pennington, a former financial advisor, became Edward Jones’s managing partner in January 2019. (At Edward Jones, which has a partnership business model, managing partner is the equivalent of CEO.) Pennington has made Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, a ranking of female business leaders, every year since 2019.
When it comes to the correction, the Edward Jones CEO thinks the downturn represents a buying opportunity. The best investors know that “buying on the dips,” and purchasing stocks that were not in favor, is a great way to diversify portfolios, Pennington said.
She does have doubts about crypto, which Pennington does not consider an asset class. Crypto is an interesting phenomenon that will spur innovation and growth and “could become an asset class,” she said. However, there is no way to determine the fundamental value of crypto outside of its volatility. “We believe that [crypto] is incredibly speculative at this point and is not well proven,” Pennington said.
But she also realizes that many people, especially younger investors, want access to crypto. Edward Jones doesn’t currently offer crypto products but hasn’t ruled out having them in the future. “The story is not fully written,” Pennington said.
Edward Jones on March 12 launched a private client offering geared to high net worth investors. Edward Jones Generations will provide expanded advice, planning, products and services for clients with at least $10 million in investable assets, according to a statement. Starting in the second quarter, Generations will be available to select clients and then more broadly rolled out in 2026.
