Politics, Economics and Markets Create a 2025 Three-Body Problem
Buckle up. This year will be a rollercoaster for stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies.
The chaotic interaction of politics, economics and markets creates a three-body problem for traders and investors in 2025.
Graphic: NASA/Getty Images North America
In physics, the three-body problem describes the impossibility of calculating the trajectories of three independent masses because of the inherently chaotic nature of their interactions under Newtonian laws of motion and gravity. For traders and investors, the interplay of politics, economics and markets will make assaying the paths of stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies this year even harder than usual.
The election of Donald Trump introduces an unwelcome capriciousness to US policymaking, with everything from trade to regulation to cryptocurrencies looking decidedly less predictable. And while the US consumer continues to defy expectations by keeping the world’s largest economy rolling along just fine, the rest of the world is a lot less robust. Our key message for 2025: Buckle up, it’s gonna be a roller coaster.