Navigating the rollercoaster caused by Trump's trade policies

IT'S been a rough few weeks for investors across the globe with volatility caused by higher-than-expected tariffs announced by United States President Donald Trump on April 2, which he called Liberation Day, before walking them backwards somewhat.

- NICOLA MAWSON

Markets have seesawed, losing serious ground before recovering and then being highly volatile. And this is going to be the picture for the while, market commentators and analysts say.

Old Mutual Wealth chief chief investment strategist, Izak Odendaal, compared Trump's trade war to the adverse impact of heavy rain, with the full effect of water damage only being felt later in time. He wrote that the world's financial markets took the first blow, yet "all that water still needs to go somewhere, and swollen rivers can wreak havoc days away from where the deluge was".

It is possible that markets could shift up or down around 10% over the next few weeks, said Peter Armitage, Anchor Capital's CEO & co-chief investment officer. "We typically get a 10% move-in market most years. It's very difficult to forecast what happens next; there does appear to be some more sanity coming into the system," he said.

The wild market swings have left investors dazed and confused, said Odendaal.

Armitage said that there are massive changes in markets daily after Trump "shocked and surprised every-body". "We live in some interesting times." Chris Eddie, lead fund manager for 10X's multi-asset fund range, noted that everyone is exhausted "by the extent to which the tariff goalposts are being changed".

Over the period between April 3 and April 4, the S&P 500 collectively lost 10.5% of its value, with US markets having their worst losses since the pandemic. The S&P 500 has moved down 9% so far this year, yet is up some 7% on the same time in 2024.