Fearless Wall Street Traders Refuse to Panic as Tariff War Rages
- Week of market whiplash leaves stocks back near all-time highs
- Fear of missing out drives steady dip-buying across assets
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergWall Street’s capacity to process drama got another workout in a week of rapid-fire headlines on tariffs, inflation and the Federal Reserve. Traders proved equal to the task, once again.
From bonds to credit and equities, a standard pattern is emerging in a world beset with uncertainty. Jarring day-to-day swings set an emotional tone for investors — only to dissipate as the sessions wear on. Take government bonds. After falling more than 1% after Wednesday’s discouraging inflation report, a popular long-dated Treasury ETF was close to erasing losses for the week, with soft retail data revitalizing bets on interest-rate cuts. Stocks, meanwhile, closed near all-time highs on Friday, with tech sentiment of late proving particularly febrile.