Boarding a New Plane

摘要

It has become all too common to describe the economic and financial market outlook as "uncertain." To be sure, it has been a fairly accurate refrain given how things have evolved over the last decade. Since 2007, market participants have had to deal with rolling financial crises, deleveraging, recession, deflation pressures, quantitative easing, negative interest rates, regulation, a collapse in oil prices and Brexit. Now there is President Donald Trump, and he has not tempered his protectionist policy prescription. Deregulation and tax reform are also on the list of policy promises, but details are still developing, leaving investors with little visibility around how they will settle out at the moment. There are many proposals floating around that have conflicting potential effects on financial markets. Those include but are not limited to trade, a border tax, fiscal stimulus and a cut in federal spending.