00:00Wall Street stocks ended marginally up on Monday as investors sidestepped any meaningful moves following U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff threats and held steady ahead of a busy week of economic data and the start of earnings season.
00:16Trump ramped up trade tensions over the weekend, vowing to slap a 30% tariff on most imports from the European Union and Mexico starting August 1, leaving the clock ticking for last-minute trade deals.
00:30The EU extended its pause on retaliatory measures until early August, holding out hope for a negotiated truth. The White House said talks with the EU, Canada and Mexico are still underway.
00:42In terms of what's moving markets today, looking ahead to the rest of the week, the earnings season starts in earnest tomorrow, Tuesday, with the big banks kicking things off.
00:58And I think what's important to note is in recent weeks leading into this earnings season, we've actually seen a sequential improvement in company pre-announcements.
01:12So guidance has been on the rise incrementally. And I think that's being underappreciated by the analyst community. So I would tend to listen to the companies here, not the analysts.
01:26So when we're thinking about the latest tariff announcements, think twice before taking a break to go to the beach for the summer.
01:35So I would point out, before we start to disentangle or unpack what Trump and the administration is doing, we're kind of in this period of strength for stocks.
01:47But September is historically known for bouts of volatility. So I think this could potentially contribute to that.
01:55Despite the headlines, investor reaction was muted, having grown numb to Trump's barrage of tariff threats and his frequent last minute U-turns.
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