Top topics from April
- Tariffs dominated headlines at the beginning of the month, but the chaos has diminished
- Trump trash-talking the Fed continued
- Crypto crept further into the conversation, but some pushback has surfaced
- ‘Private rooms’ - These are special trading forums that restrict access to specific traders. They are the new ‘Dark Pools’ of Wall Street, which were regulated away by Dodd-Frank
- Artificial intelligence - buzz has definitely peaked
Top trend
Wall Street has tired of the administration’s incessant talk about tariffs. Talk is cheap … implementing tariffs isn’t. As shipping containers begin to stack up outside ports, yet more product or industry-specific exemptions will be announced because the playbook for how to ‘earn’ an exemption is now clear.
What to watch for: The current spat on Capitol Hill about the stablecoin vote marks the first significant pushback on the unshackling of crypto. It might be just a small wrinkle, but concern is starting to grow in the crypto world that the Trump family’s launch of their own coins – and dinner at the White House style embrace its related backers – is a bad look for the overall industry.
Additional trends
- All parties involved in artificial intelligence are backing away from the splashy investment/funding announcements.
24/7 trading had been cruising along like it was destiny, but Ken Griffin from Citadel pushed back on the idea and offered a litany of reasons why 24/7 is a silly idea. KG is definitely talking his own book, but he’s not wrong.
