Markets That Priced in a Trade Skirmish Now Brace for a Bruising Fight
As Beijing and Washington harden their positions, there could be a whole lot more pain before either side caves.
Wall Street’s pundit class sprung dutifully into action as the tariff fight between the U.S. and China suddenly escalated this month, dashing off pages upon pages of investment advice peppered with metaphors and anecdotes intended to help clients wrap their heads—and their portfolios—around the new state of play of the global economy.
For three analysts from Jefferies, this meant unleashing the 1970s earworm Suicide Is Painless in a note to clients. The theme song for M*A*S*H, the movie turned sitcom about wisecracking American doctors in the Korean War, had found its way into the analysts’ heads after the People’s Daily and other Chinese state-run media ran a commentary piece that evoked comparisons to the simultaneous peace talks and battles between U.S. and Chinese-backed forces during that conflict. The unsigned article was headlined, “If You Want to Talk, We Can Talk. If You Want to Fight, We Will Fight.”