Market gloom is thick in the air — with some justification.
Consumer sentiment is depressed, US inflation expectations have jumped, and businesses have turned cautious. Individual investors are the most bearish they have been in years, matching the tone of newsletter writers and hedge funds, whose portfolios have the least long exposure and the most short exposure in half a decade. yardeni.com/charts/bull-bear-ratios/
There are good reasons for the gloomy mood: www.ft.com/content/4aa1d7d7-4162-4e25-a6d6-a174a9626681
1. Over-rosy Wall Street targets. Consensus still pegs the S&P 500 at just under 6,000 by year-end 2025, a view that looks detached from today’s fundamentals.
2. Tariff shock. The effective US tariff rate has increased from 2.5% to roughly 28%, a move that independent research suggests could slice S&P 500 earnings by nearly 20%.
3. Stretched valuations. The S&P 500 forward P/E hovers near 19 versus a pre-Covid norm around 17 — almost twice the 10 P/Es seen in past recessions.
4. Fading “safe-haven” premium. Policy turmoil is chipping away at America’s reputational edge, yet US equities still trade at a 50% valuation premium to the rest of the world.
5. De-rating risk. A slide back to a 17× forward P/E implies an index level near 4,500 — roughly 20 % below today.
History says deep pessimism often sets the stage for a bounce, so the S&P 500 could prove resilient in the near term. Still, with US economic momentum rolling over after a 2.5-year upswing, strength looks to me like a selling opportunity.
Our portfolio is tilted toward Europe, where Trump-era pressure is catalysing fresh investment and policy support. Should US credibility erode further, capital flows into European assets could accelerate.
I anticipate EURUSD climbing to 1.20 this year and the S&P 500 weakening once tariff damage shows up in Q3 earnings. At the same time, I believe European indices will outperform, helped by undemanding valuations and expectations of a brighter economy in 2026-27. The strategy, therefore, remains to keep riding Europe’s relative strength.
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