Who's Winning The 'Trade War'?

Just how crazy is Donald Trump?

Back at the beginning of March, the president famously tweeted:

“When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!”
- President Donald Trump

You probably don’t remember what the exact reaction to that was, but you can probably guess it involved hoots of derisive laughter. After all, the idea of the president of the United States upsetting the world apple cart by supposedly starting a trade war with China and our biggest trade partners and closest allies was the height of lunacy.

But who’s laughing now? Continue reading "Who's Winning The 'Trade War'?"

One Word Can Protect Against A Trade War

As Trader's, we've experienced a lot of uncertainty recently around a pending global trade war. In fact, I have read that economists believe a full-blown trade war could cost the global economy $470 billion. Now that's a significant number, and it certainly could negatively impact your portfolio if you're not careful.

So how do you protect your portfolio and preserve capital?

The answer may have come from your Grandma; it certainly did from mine. She used to say this simple phrase to me on what seemed like a weekly basis, "don't put all of your eggs in one basket!"

Well, it turns out Grandma was right! Grandma knew a great deal about the power of diversification and how it reduces risk in different aspects of your life, and we can relate that directly to trading and investing.

It just doesn’t make sense to trade only one market. There is just too much risk and too little opportunity. A trader needs to stay flexible, and at the same time be diversified. Before we get into the meat and potatoes of market diversification, let's take a look at how the dictionary defines "diversification." Continue reading "One Word Can Protect Against A Trade War"