Why Trump is causing market volatility ahead of inauguration
Though President-elect Donald Trump is not set to enter the White House until Monday, the market is already reacting and preparing in advance for the United States’ new commander in chief. On this week’s episode of Capitol Gains, Washington Correspondent Ben Werschkul takes a look at the current increased market volatility and explains how it’s an indicator of what is to come after Inauguration Day. There are three specific areas to look at: tariff uncertainty, the combination of inflation, national debt, and taxes, and Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Tariffs has been the big buzzword surrounding the incoming Trump administration since the president-elect was on the campaign trail. Now that the country is days away from the Trump 2.0 presidency and there’s no concrete plan as to how he will actually handle tariffs, the market is responding. “You’re seeing the dollar go up and down in response to that, and that’s clearly because this is one of the big uncertainties for Trump going forward,” Werschkul says. For inflation, the national debt, and taxes, there’s market activity due to Trumpflation concerns. Scott Bessent is added into the fold because of his Senate confirmation hearing to become Treasury Secretary. He’s impacting the markets, according to Werschkul, because of all the aforementioned Trump uncertainty. “Is [Bessent] going to be a defender of tariffs in Trump 2.0 even though he offered critical commentary in the past?” Wershkul asks. “ All of these together kind of show just a little taste of what's to come on the markets and Trump and the kind of a volatility that we all remember from [Trump] 1.0 to [Trump] 2.0.” To learn more, listen to the full episode of Capitol Gains here. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch more Capitol Gains. Capitol Gains is Yahoo Finance’s unique look at how US government policy will impact your bottom line long after the Presidential election polls have closed. This post was written by Lauren Pokedoff.
