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Friday, January 16th
“Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!”
-Fyodor Dostoevsky
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Markets Today
🌏 Asia-Pacific: Mixed
🇪🇺 Europe: Up
🇺🇸 United States: Up
🛢️ Oil: Down
⚡Crypto: Up
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Major Market Events
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US manufacturing output accelerated in December
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Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch Shortchanged Clients in Cash Sweep Accounts, SEC Alleges
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US consumer bureau fines Equifax $15 million over handling of consumer disputes
🤔 My Thoughts
This coming Monday is a day that will live in the history books for decades to come.
President Trump’s second and final term.
And reports are flowing in that he will not waste ANY time.
Per Yahoo Finance:
Donald Trump and his allies are promising a “blizzard” of activity on Jan. 20, with a wave of executive orders to be signed within hours of his swearing in and more likely to follow in the days afterwards.
The president-elect and top aide Stephen Miller have separately said that once the dust settles the total could be on the magnitude of 100 different executive actions.
After sweeping the presidency, the house and the senate, the Republicans have a big electoral mandate…
And it sure looks like President Trump will not wait to execute on that mandate. We could see massive moves on deporting illegal immigrants, enacting hawkish trade policies, and cutting executive branch bureaucracy before the markets even open on Tuesday morning.
(Note: Markets will be closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so make sure you’ve incorporated that into your trade plans)
Of course – we’re not a political publisher – we’re a financial publisher.
We do have to pay attention to major political events, like a revolutionary new presidential administration coming to DC – one that is expected to make a radical break with the last administration.
And the reason for that is because we expect these political changes to have a big impact on the market.
Does that mean markets will soar or tank next week? Well obviously we don’t have a crystal ball. But we think there’s a clear answer here.
And it’s not soaring OR tanking.
It’s volatility. We expect to see some serious whipsaw action (and you can check out my strategy for volatility right here.)
Check out this chart from Vanguard – and how volatility spikes around a presidential election and then ticks right back up for the inauguration.
That’s a strong trend in historic volatility levels!
So we wouldn’t be making any big directional bets, up or down, but we would make sure that everything in your portfolio is ready to start getting volatile.
Stay tuned next week for coverage of the Trump executive actions as they happen – and the impact we see them make on the markets.
And if you want real time updates on the coming Trump “blizzard” beyond just these emails, you can sign up for the free Telegram channel right here.
Testimonial of the day
Robert S.: “ Acquired 5 contracts and after the close out I made 80% on my money ”
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