2025 Predictions Continue

With all of the new Senate confirmations and executive orders from the past week, the 2025 stock market predictions continue! We explore how higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive and how a strong dollar challenges multinational corporations by making U.S. goods more expensive abroad. Rising oil prices further strain businesses by increasing transportation and production costs. Despite these fundamental factors, the market often disregards traditional economic signals, making price the ultimate determinant of value. Today we discuss... The week's news cycle was dominated by Trump's executive orders and political theater in Senate confirmations. Senators grilling Kennedy on vaccine policies were top recipients of pharmaceutical industry donations. Stanley Druckenmiller outlined three major risks to markets: rising interest rates, a strong dollar, and rising oil prices. Before Trump took office, all three risk factors were in play, but they have since moderated. Higher interest rates increase borrowing costs and lower corporate profits, especially for debt-reliant industries. Tech companies have used low-interest debt for stock buybacks, artificially boosting valuations. A strong U.S. dollar negatively impacts multinational corporations by making exports more expensive. Emerging markets struggle with dollar-denominated debt when the U.S. dollar strengthens. The market doesn’t care about your opinion and can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. Even if you're ultimately right, being wrong for 20 years still means you were wrong in practice. The best investors acknowledge when the market disagrees with them and pivot accordingly. Most people lack familiarity with risk management beyond simply buying bonds. The largest oil reserves aren’t necessarily the most valuable due to quality differences in crude. Corporate cycles alternate between aggressive acquisitions and strategic spinoffs. Investment return data gets distorted over time as underperforming funds disappear. The extravagant corporate culture at Nabisco before and after the buyout. Cultural shifts, like the rise of the iPhone, have happened rapidly in recent years. The housing market is in a challenging state due to high interest rates and low supply.   Today's Panelists: Kirk Chisholm | Innovative Wealth Phil Weiss | Apprise Wealth Management Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moneytreepodcast Follow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/money-tree-investing-podcast Follow on Twitter/X: https://x.com/MTIPodcast For more information, visit the show notes at https://moneytreepodcast.com/2025-predictions-continue-683