Just when we thought today was going to be all about the Federal Reserve and statements made by Fed Chair Jerome Powell, the markets were shaken by news from China and President Trump. While the markets were responding somewhat positively to what the Fed was saying, China came out and said they will be increasing tariffs on $75 billion worth of US goods. This caused President Trump to retaliate by doing the following: raising tariffs from 25% to 30% on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods and to increase tariffs from 10% to 15% on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods. The latter of these of course being the tariffs that the President just threatened and then delayed. So again, the question remains, are these tariffs hurting the US economy and consumer or aren’t they? In what can only be considered a ‘tweet-storm’ the President attacked the Fed and China by asking, “who is the bigger enemy – Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?” He continues by stating an escalation in tariffs and by “hereby ordering” US companies to look for alternatives to China. This last point is rather frightening. Does this mean the President is going to be placing sanctions on China – whereby he would have the authority to stop all trade with China or does he believe he already has this power and authority to dictate to Us companies? Both are concerning and for similar reasons. First, due to economic concerns and secondly, due to political concerns and what would be a clear abuse of power. In addition, we have manufacturing PMI in contraction for the 1st time since the Great Recession. The yield curve, the spread between the 10 and 2 year Treasury has closed in negative territory for the 1st time since 2007 – a strong indicator for recessions. A recent government report stating that 500,000 fewer jobs were created than what was previously stated. And lastly, US equity prices were down 2% to 3% depending on the index. Volatility as The Kapital News has been predicting is here and we imagine it will be here throughout the rest of the year. Therefore, stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #EndTheFed #Recession #TradeWar #Economics #WakeUpAmerica #Politics #Peace