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Where’s The Next Bull Market?
Opinions vary on whether mercurial US trade policy and a de facto abrogation of America's hegemonic
So let’s say you’re Walmart, and tariffs are coming, and you know that’s going to hurt because you know where your goods come from, so you try to get ahead of things by (rather famously now) trying to negotiate your Chinese suppliers’ prices down, and maybe they give an inch or so, but no more. (Recall, negotiating its suppliers’ prices down has been Walmart’s business model for years now.) So you decide to be honest with your investors–and your customers–and you tell them you will cut or hold down prices where you can, but tariffs are simply going to force prices to go up on things.
Investors and customers seem to appreciate your approach, as your stock has essentially doubled in value since the start of 2024–even after “Liberation Day”–because, among other things, Walmart tends to hold its own during recessionary times. So now imagine–as your reward let’s say–the President of the United States himself comes out and declares you’ll “EAT THE TARIFFS” (and like it I suppose) and that “(he’ll) be watching . . .” Now, how American is that? How unbelievable is that? What are Walmart’s investors supposed to do now? Hold-on out of sheer loyalty, go full-on GameStop and start pumping the price up, or abandon a relatively well-meaning, successful company with a target now apparently on its back?
I mean, your CEO tells you profits are going to suffer, and then the President himself singles you out and doubles down on that! Jesus wept, what’s next, a slap-fight with Warren Buffett? Does Trump even understand that investors don’t have to stick around to find out? Talk about “an end to American exceptionalism,” let’s start at the very top, no? In the end, I suppose Walmart will be O.K., as I suspect American shoppers trust them (and their wallets) more than the “Big Man” in charge, but that was just bad form all around. Let’s just see where WMT closes on Monday. (Full disclosure, I actually sold all my shares in Walmart about a week ago for unrelated reasons.)
I thought it was a joke when I read it. Looking into Trump, there is no “there” there. Because he is president, it’s scary. If he were anyone else we would not give him any thought!
Cheeto Jesus eats everything.