IBM Vice Chairman Gary Cohn joined Opening Bid to discuss the market uncertainty surrounding tariffs. "Wall Street is in the advice business," he said. "And when there's ambiguity, it's really tough to give good advice.
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This post was written by Langston Sessoms, producer for Opening Bid.
I'm convinced and I was convinced this a while ago, you know, basically everyone, uh, especially on Wall Street, is this community starting to get a little twitchy on what they're seeing from the administration?
I I I I wouldn't say twitchy. Look, as as I just said, the the Wall Street community, the banking community, as well as the CEO community in every industry, they don't like ambiguity. Like, we can deal, we, we is and I put, I said we, those those in the in the Wall Street community, they can deal with any environment as long as they know what the environment is. You know, whether it's tight monetary policy, loose monetary policy, whether it's it's a very tough regulatory environment, a very loose regulatory environment. They can deal the the the community can deal with all of those outcomes because they have and they do. The problem they have is not knowing what environment they're in and how to run their business, how to staff appropriately, how to cover their clients, and more importantly, what advice to give their clients. Remember, Wall Street is in the advice business. Whether it's from the simple retail investor all the way up to the most sophisticated board room CEO, they're in the advice business. And when there's ambiguity, it's really tough to give good advice.
Is ambiguity going to be the characteristic of this administration for the next three and a half years?
I don't know. Like, I it's it's a we don't know. We we could end up in a position where the administration settles down on what they want to do with tariffs. They get tax policy through Congress. Um, they get budget through Congress. We understand what where we're going from a financial standpoint. We understand what they need tariffs for, they don't need tariffs for, and they settle on a on a methodology, and we get into a a very stable position. A lot of the appointees and nominees get confirmed. They get they get into their offices, and they start running their their businesses in a way that is predictable, whether it's tight regulation, loose regulatory, very accommodative, not accommodative at all, but all of those things as as you keep adding onto the pile, I think we we remove some of that ambiguity.
