This past week, President Trump announced his intention to remove Lisa Cook as Governor of the Federal Reserve. Our perspective on concerns some investors have expressed regarding the potential for reduced central bank independence and how that could influence markets.

Recent tariff clarity—15% on imports from Japan and the EU—suggests faster movement than expected toward a 10% tariff goal (excluding China). Additionally, the OBBBA signing highlights the stimulus aspect of Trump’s now more defined economic agenda.

On June 21st, the United States enacted a military operation to strike nuclear facilities in Iran. As is custom in our investment discipline, we are actively considering various scenarios and assessing how we might adjust portfolio positioning under specific circumstances.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has ushered in a slew of proposed policies that have created a level of uncertainty having an impact on markets, and on the decision making of consumers and companies.

Markets are not short on information flow these days. The steady cadence of corporate earnings, economic reports, and Federal Reserve meetings has been disrupted by news around AI innovations and new tariffs.

The recent U.S. presidential election was unusually close, with Donald Trump winning exactly 50.0% of the popular vote. The political views of the candidates and their parties have become more divergent.

With election results showing Donald Trump has been elected President, stocks rallied on November 6th as concerns around an uncertain election outcome were abated.

As we close in on a week until election day, the outcome remains highly uncertain. It seems that each of the recent presidential elections has become more important than the previous one.

Over the past decade, Chinese stocks underperformed global peers, including the S&P 500, due to earnings declines and deteriorating levels of profitability.