The latest tariff escalation from President Donald Trump rattled Wall Street on Friday, but the relatively muted decline for stocks might be a sign that the market is somewhat stuck until there is greater official clarity. Paul Christopher, head of global investment strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said in a note that Friday’s comments by the president showed that tariffs “remain material risks” to the market, but not enough to justify bailing out of stocks. “The uncertainty is likely to promote range trading, and we favor neither chasing rallies nor selling on weakness,” Christopher wrote. Plenty of traders seemed to have the same idea on Friday. The S & P 500 was down about 1.3% at its lows of the morning but trimmed those losses as the day wore on. .SPX 1D mountain The S & P 500 closed well above its low on Friday. Edward Jones investment strategist Angelo Kourkafas said Friday’s market action is a sign that traders may be “getting insensitive to the constant stream of headlines.” The S & P 500 ended the week by falling for four straight sessions, but it is still above the levels dating from before Trump raised tariffs in what he called “Liberation Day.” Kourkafas echoed the idea that stocks could be range bound as the tariff negotiations drag into the summer. “Valuations have made the round trip, while earnings estimates have come down. So we’re going to need more concrete deals to see further gains,” the strategist said.
