• A baffling obsession with defending the corrupt regime of Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
• Ratcheting up military tensions with Iran.
• Ratcheting up trade tensions with Mexico.
• Ratcheting up military and trade tensions with China.
My colleague Josh Brown points out that U.S. markets are granted a premium because rule of law has been the central organizing principle of American political and commercial life. After all, shares of stocks are contracts; they are agreements between the owners of a business and those who manage it on behalf of those owners. If the rule of law is threatened, as it may well be by Trump, then the higher multiples those share deserve begin to look undeserved. Bad things follow.
Markets are still in the process of assessing the Trump presidency. So far, though, it’s clear that there is much less enthusiasm than there was just a few months ago.
This column was provided by Bloomberg News.