John Authers, Columnist

A Matter of Trust as Markets Ponder What’s Next

Everyone is in a state of suspended animation.

April 16, 2025 at 4:04 AM UTC

John Authers is a senior editor for markets and Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A former chief markets commentator at the Financial Times, he is author of “The Fearful Rise of Markets.”

Markets are watching for signs of lasting damage to US assets from the tariffs.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here.

Markets have settled into an eerie calm this Holy Week. But that doesn’t mean that the pressing issues confronting investors have been resolved. Rather, trade uncertainty has been ratcheted up to a previously unimaginable level, and remains higher than it was before the April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs. The old saying that markets hate nothing as much as uncertainty is irritating but true. And it remains extreme: