Why It Has Become Riskier To Be A Long-Term Investor

Higher inflation, slower economic growth and geopolitics undermine conventional strategy.

- Jeff Sommer

Uncertainty has defined financial markets this year. It's not going away, because the source of the problem is the Trump administration.

Tariffs are the main financial issue. US President Donald Trump has sometimes backpedalled when the markets have plunged. But he and members of his administration have made it clear that higher tariffs of some sort are here to stay, even though they are unpopular and most economists say they are a mistake. The risk of higher inflation and slower economic growth, along with strained relations with China and with many erstwhile allies, now appears to be a fact of life.

Mr Trump says he is, at heart, "a tariff man" and wants to change the world. It's wise to believe him. In fact, I think it's time to accept that disruption is here to stay. This is causing problems for investors. Yet even in times of turmoil, there are new investment opportunities.

Bonds are a case in point. The Treasury market has received considerable attention lately because, in response to the tariff announcements, yields rocketed and prices sank in a manner that has been associated with full-blown financial crises. That market has calmed down a bit, but the chances of further eruptions are high. They may be set off by other parts of the Trump policy tool kit — say, the President's goal of extending tax cuts that expire this year and adding new ones, enormously expanding the federal budget deficit and the Treasuries needed to finance it.

Another administration policy goal may be causing problems for bonds: weakening the value of the dollar to make US exports more competitive and imports more expensive. Tariffs, of course, do that to imports, too.