Wednesday, March 07, 2018

US Stocks Extend Slide on Cohn Exit, As Energy Weighs
Mamta Badkar
Financial Times

US stocks extended their decline by midday amid chaos in the Trump administration and as investors assess the risks of a possible trade war.

The S&P 500 fell as much as 1 per cent to 2,701.74 before trimming those losses to trade about 0.8 per cent lower.

A build in US crude stockpiles saw oil prices fall and drag the energy sector lower by 1.4 per cent, making it the biggest laggard on the benchmark S&P 500. Consumer discretionary and staples also added to earlier losses down 1.3 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively, while real estate was the only sector in the black.

Treasury prices held their gains while the US dollar turned mildly positive.

The market moves also come as President Trump’s chief economic adviser Gary Cohn — widely considered to be pro-trade and pro-market — resigned late on Tuesday after losing a battle with the White House over trade tariffs. And this morning, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro denied being a candidate to replace Mr Cohn.

Mr Cohn’s departure has raised concerns about a trade war but also the direction that policy will take under President Trump.

However, Peter Boockvar at Bleakley Group took a more sanguine view of the latest high-profile departure. He said:

Everyone and their mother is chiming in on the Gary Cohn resignation and the implications so I’m only going to say this simply. From a major policy perspective, the heavy lifting was done via the tax bill. A limit on regulatory reform will continue regardless of Cohn’s presence. Thus, the only thing left of importance for Cohn in my view was him being a firewall against dumb and damaging economic initiatives. Tariffs qualified as such.

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