GeoMacro
A blend of geopolitics and macro, synthesizing the new and old macro to generate alpha and identify the beta through probability-weighted market views.
Liberation Day is coming to America! In honor of the new holiday, GeoMacro will be increasing prices using an algorithm that will determine how much each client owes us for the sweet taste of their liberty (… from the clutches of normative geopolitical analysis)!
The trade war is on everyone’s mind with America’s “Liberation Day” upon us! However, the reality under the surface is that the main macro narrative has been a rotation – nay… exodus – out of US assets into RoW. This was not supposed to happen with de-globalization and a MAGA trade policy. US assets – form equities to the USD – were supposed to be the safe haven from “America First” policies by Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the noose of material constraints is tightening around Trump, suggesting that a pivot away from brinkmanship may not be long away from “Liberation Day.”
In this month’s Beta report, we continue our series supporting our bullish thesis on Europe. We take a deep dive into the aftermath of the European energy crisis – dispelling the myth that Europe faces risks of imminent deindustrialization – and evaluate the impact the approaching LNG wave will have on European industry and the global natural gas market.
Stocks will continue to struggle in the second quarter as President Trump tries to implement tariffs. Tax cuts will only temporarily dispel growth fears, if at all. Middle Eastern instability will add oil price surprises to an environment that is looking fairly stagflationary.
Clients have asked us repeatedly about our thoughts on the Mar-a-Lago Accord. Our readers know that we believe that the US is constrained by its median voter and the reality of geopolitical multipolarity. As such, the path of least resistance is towards a cheaper USD, which is currently being achieved through an organic macro see-saw of relative fiscal policy. The idea that the US gets to “restructure the global trading system” on its own is, therefore, ludicrous.
We share with our clients a brief rundown of “Washington, DC” intelligence on the upcoming April 2 tariffs. Most of it is bearish. However, the day may mark “peak de-globalization hysteria.” President Trump is also starting his Maximum Pressure campaign against Iran. That is two such campaigns at the same time, perhaps more than the administration can handle simultaneously.
Investors should not chase the rally in European defense names any further. Too much good news has been priced in too quickly.
Trump’s foreign policy can be explained by rational US interests, but it requires settling the trade war with allies sooner rather than later. Book gains on EUR-USD for now.