Trump's Policies

Investors should modestly underweight equities in their portfolios and look to turn more aggressively defensive once the whites of the recession’s eyes are visible. We think that will happen within the next few months.

President Trump’s big beautiful bill will pass but faces near-term hurdles and will not tighten the government’s belt. It will combine with renewed tariff implementation to generate near-term risk for both the bond and stock market. The Iran crisis fizzled, saving Trump from a major oil shock that could have derailed his second term.

Even if Iran tries to revive talks, the US has an irresistible opportunity to dismantle its nuclear program. Tactically, investors should favor Treasuries over the S&P, defensive sectors over cyclicals, energy stocks over cyclicals, and US stocks over European stocks in the near term. 

Israel’s attacks on Iran will continue until Iran is forced to strike regional oil supply to get the US to restrain Israel. That may not work. Investors should prepare for a broader economic impact of the conflict. 

The US economy has held up better so far this year than we had expected. For the time being, investors should remain modestly underweight equities. A more aggressive underweight would be justified only once the “whites of the recession’s eyes” are visible.

This month, we focus on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Our assessment in the Alpha report is that there won’t be any remaining alpha to harvest by shorting duration. The team that coined the “Human Steepener” moniker for President Trump is, effectively, throwing in the towel on looking for more upside to yields. There are many reasons for that view, but the main one is that the OBBBA legislation is just not that profligate, especially not relative to the investors’ expectations in the early days of the Trump 2.0 term. 

After considering some of the most common bullish arguments, we stand by our recession view and reiterate our defensive asset allocation recommendations.

In Section I, Doug warns that US trade policy may produce a considerably worse outcome than investors currently expect. The administration’s apparent 10% tariff baseline is likely to be negative for the US economy and particularly the small business sector. Investors should remain defensively positioned for now, although judicial constraints on the administration’s ability to wage a trade war, if confirmed, would sharply reduce our estimated recession probability. In Section II, Jonathan discusses the arguments in favor and against the view that US inflation will be structurally elevated over the longer term. Our base case view remains that US inflation will not be significantly above 2%, but this view may change if US tariffs are put in place permanently and the US avoids a recession.

In Section II, Jonathan discusses the arguments in favor and against the view that US inflation will be structurally elevated over the longer term. Our base case view remains that US inflation will not be significantly above 2%, but this view may change if US tariffs are put in place permanently and the US avoids a recession.

President Trump faces new restrictions on his trade powers coming from the US judicial branch, but they will not prevent him from continuing to restrict trade and investment with China. Rather, they will establish some curbs against entirely arbitrary executive tariffs, especially when wielded against US allies and partners.