- The S&P 500 slipped into correction territory on the back of on-again, off-again tariffs earlier this month. Stocks edged higher in early trading on Tuesday before wavering. Kate Moore, chief investment officer for Citigroup’s wealth division, is cautioning against putting more money in stocks.
The uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump’s tariffs is pushing markets around.
Earlier this month, the S&P 500 entered correction territory on the back of on-again, off-again tariff threats. On Tuesday, stocks edged higher in early trading off hope that reciprocal tariffs would be diluted, but that volatility was enough for Kate Moore, chief investment officer for Citigroup’s investment solutions team Citi Wealth, to warn against putting any more money in stocks.
“It’s uncomfortable to say this, but I would not be putting more money to work in kind of risk assets at this point, so equities or credit,” Moore told CNBC on Tuesday. “I think the equity market is going to be caught in more of a trading range in the near term as both technical pressures and policy fears bounce us around.”
Moore doesn’t think anyone should sell their stocks. It’s more a wait-and-see game, which seems to be a trend in the economic world. The central bank is leaving interest rates untouched, for one, to see how tariffs and trade play out. Consumer sentiment is plunging, but everyone is waiting to see what the hard data reveals, especially where consumer prices and economic growth are concerned.
As of midday Tuesday, markets wavered a bit. The S&P 500 climbed 0.06%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.30%, and the Dow moved down 0.04%. The U.S. “equity markets remain in drawdown territory, with the S&P 500 about 7% below its recent peak,” Convera’s lead macro strategist George Vessey said in a statement on Tuesday.
Vessey cited increased uncertainty surrounding trade policy and concerns about an economic slowdown that fueled the market’s recent plunge. But he also cited Trump’s recent comments about tariffs, where the president hinted at breaks for some countries, which have subdued investor fears to a degree and has aided a stock rebound, Vessey said.
But markets may continue to swing. Goldman Sachs anticipates “an initial tariff announcement that negatively surprises markets,” economists wrote in a Tuesday research note, referring to the administration’s long-awaited tariff plan that goes into effect on April 2. They suspect Trump will propose higher rates on a basis of negotiation, for one. Plus, the bank’s economists expect the tariffs to be more substantial than what market participants predict.
Bank of America said it saw the biggest net equity sales since August in a recent research note. Its equity strategists wrote that clients were net sellers for the first time in eight weeks as the S&P 500 recovered from its dip in correction territory. In a separate note from the bank, strategists said the lack of tariff talk last week and reports that they would be narrower “resulted in a notable drop in trade policy uncertainty index.”
