It's a Mess of a Market as Investors Search for a New Trend to Emerge

Most of the tariff drama was quickly resolved on Monday, but it remains a source of market uncertainty. The Trump administration has not been hardline so far, having quickly resolved disputes with Canada and Mexico, but China and Europe present issues unrelated to the border.

While China is issuing minor tariff responses Tuesday morning, both sides are positioning themselves for negotiations and a quick deal. Europe is the biggest problem now, but after the events on Monday, it appears Trump may be willing to accept a quick deal without major concessions.

Nevertheless, tariff uncertainty is keeping buyers on the sidelines and pushing down the indexes Tuesday morning. A couple of good earnings reports from Palantir PLTR and Tempus AI TEM are helping AI speculators, but the Magnificent Seven MAGS names are mixed.

So far the market’s ability to absorb both the DeepSeak AI issue and the tariff crisis has prevented major technical damage but buyers are still nervous and not ready to believe that the worst is over.

What is needed now is stronger technical support, and it wouldn’t hurt to see more rotation into areas of the market that aren’t subject to the direct fallout from tariffs.

Another issue of concern is that interest rates are spiking again. Bonds TLT are slipping, and the dollar is very volatile. Important jobs news is coming on Friday, and the Amazon AMZN earnings report is Thursday.

It is a very messy market right now, and my game plan is to stay patient and wait for better chart development for longer-term plays. There is short-term volatility to trade, but overall, the market doesn’t have a strong trend, and that prevents me from making any significant moves.

At the time of publication, Rev Shark had no positions in any securities mentioned.