Wall Street In Denial

Altucher: “A Major Pivot Point”

The U.S. stock market just registered two consecutive up days for the first time since Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2.

After another ugly day on Monday — the S&P 500 dropping 2.4% — three things happened in quick succession…

• Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent both signaled that the 145% tariffs on China would likely be dialed down

• Trump also said he had “no intention” of firing Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell

• Meanwhile, after a rotten quarter at Tesla, Elon Musk said he would be cutting back on the time he’s devoting to the “Department of Government Efficiency.”

That’s all it took for the S&P 500 to stage a two-day rally of 4.2% Tuesday and yesterday.

In other words, Wall Street was breathing a sigh of relief that things are getting back to some sort of pre-Liberation Day “normal.”

The problem with that narrative is that whatever constituted the old “normal” is gone.

Maybe the trade war is simmering down, maybe the tussle between Trump and the Fed is temporarily on ice, maybe Musk realizes his time and attention have limits.

But the problems that earned Trump a popular-vote win last November — namely a rising cost of living and a shrinking middle class — haven’t gone away.

Trump and his team seek to address those problems. You might or might not agree with their approach to those problems — and their approach can change from week to week and day to day — but the problems can no longer just be swept under the rug.

Wall Street’s rally yesterday and the day before? Really, it was a rally of denial.

Indeed it was the ultimate in “normalcy bias” — a belief that the post-COVID economic recovery will go on forever, as will the stupendous growth of the Magnificent 7 stocks.

This week, each in his own way, Paradigm’s two best-known gurus helped their readers come to grips with the fact the old “normal” is gone.

A short time ago, our hedge fund and private equity veteran James Altucher wrapped up his briefing titled 2025’s Ultimate Money Move.

Ahead of the event, James told readers he was appalled: “Investors are pouring their money back into the stocks that have led the market higher for the past decade” — that is, the Teslas, the Nvidias, the Apples.

It’s understandable, he says: “Our lizard brains are wired to follow the crowd.”

But the crowd is headed for deep, deep trouble: “The fact is,” James goes on, “we are at a major pivot point in this market.

“There is an urgent catalyst that could kick off in a matter of days — a major policy change in Washington, D.C. that will change everything for businesses in America. And it could send one special group of stocks up 1,000% or more this year.”

James says he hasn’t seen a setup this lucrative since the 2008 financial crisis. “I know that sounds weird — we’re just a few weeks from all-time highs,” he acknowledges. “But there’s a very particular group of investments that are setting up for a massive move.”

If you watched the event and acted on James’ guidance — or if you already belong to James’ premium advisory Microcap Millionaire — you’re already armed with the knowledge you need to seize the moment.

But if not, you should know we’re talking about the potential for generational wealth — transforming a $10,000 grubstake into a $1.4 million fortune in less than two decades.

A replay of the event is now available if you missed it. You can watch right away at this link — as long as you bear in mind that the urgent catalyst James has in mind is already playing out. By early next week, it might be too late to act. So you’ll want to hear James out right away — click here.

Rickards: A “Completely Phony” Tariff Debate

Meanwhile, our macro maven Jim Rickards gathered his research team yesterday for an exclusive webcast from Jekyll Island, Georgia — birthplace of the Federal Reserve more than a century ago.

Some 8,900 of your fellow readers looked in. (You can see the replay right here.)

Everything was on the table — tariffs, of course, along with Jim’s “American Birthright” thesis, the relevance of the Federal Reserve in the Trump 47 era, geopolitical flashpoints and the much-ballyhooed “Mar-a-Lago Accord” aimed at reshaping the global monetary system.

As you might imagine, tariffs were front and center — not least because, as Jim sees it, the debate over tariffs is “completely phony.”

There’s a black-and-white quality to the debate — they’re always good, or always bad.

Jim says it’s more subtle than that: Tariffs are valuable for countries that consume more than they produce — which has certainly been the case in the United States for several decades.

But they can be destructive for countries that produce more than they consume — such as the United States a century ago. That’s why the infamous Smoot-Hawley tariffs enacted in 1930 were so disastrous; at that time America was a production machine.

Under current circumstances, Jim believes the Trump tariff regime will be a plus — creating more well-paying jobs while not resulting in higher prices for consumers.

If you’re not familiar with Jim’s thinking about tariffs, yesterday’s event is a great place to start — not least because as soon as he’s done, Jim’s fellow panelists spell out four names and ticker symbols that stand to benefit from the tariff agenda.

Watch here: The tariff portion of the discussion is covered first in a breezy half-hour.

From there, the discussion moved on to a theme that’s near and dear to Jim’s newest readers — the $150 trillion “American birthright.”

That’s the amount of mineral wealth on federal lands that the Trump administration is poised to unlock after a key Supreme Court ruling last year.

Key point: $150 trillion is a sum that dwarfs the national debt, currently $36.2 trillion (but set to rise as soon as Congress gets around to raising the debt ceiling).

In February, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent got a lot of buzz when he promised the administration was hatching a scheme to “monetize the asset side of the U.S. balance sheet for the American people.”

Some people mistook that remark for “revaluing” the gold held by the U.S. Treasury — still valued at $42.22 an ounce, a relic of the chaos that ensued when President Nixon cut the dollar’s last tie to gold in 1971.

Bessent quickly shot down that notion — which means he’s talking about the vast mineral wealth on federal lands, mostly west of the Mississippi.

Metals are in abundance as well as oil and natural gas. When it comes to energy, Jim says, “We haven’t even come close to tapping what we’ve got.”

Here again, Jim and his team were generous with names and ticker symbols — I counted three, but it was going by mighty quickly. But you can watch the replay, scrolling back and forth so you can write down anything you missed.

Once more, here’s the link. As I said earlier this week, the purpose of this event was not to sell you one of Jim’s premium trading services. It’s simply to help you get a better grasp on events that are changing at a dizzying speed.

Meanwhile, guess what? Tariffs are back in the news — and weighing on Wall Street. With that, I’ll turn it over to Emily for the balance of today’s edition…

Trade Talks? What Trade Talks?

“China and the U.S. have not engaged in any consultations or negotiations regarding tariffs,” says a Chinese spokesman, pushing back against President Trump’s claim that both countries are negotiating to end the trade war.

Trump hinted tariffs might come down soon, but his team sent mixed signals on that score. Meanwhile, Beijing clearly wants the U.S. to make the first move — “fight to the death” language has been issued.

Regardless, Mr. Market is shaking off China’s statement; the three major U.S. stock indexes are solidly in the green at the time of writing. The techie Nasdaq is up 1.60%, about 20 points under 17,000. The S&P 500 is up 1.20% to 5,440 while the DJIA is up 0.55% to 39,830.

Oil, in the meantime, is up 0.60% to $62.65 for a barrel of WTI. Gold is rallying — up 1.30% to $3,337 per ounce. But that’s still about $160 below the yellow metal’s historic high-water mark on Tuesday. Silver, on the other hand, is down 0.40% to $33.40.

In tandem, Bitcoin and Ethereum are struggling in the red; the flagship crypto is hanging out around $93,500. ETH is down 0.35% to $1,775.

For the major economic numbers of the day, durable goods orders surged 9.2% in March, marking the third straight monthly jump and smashing expectations. But hold up: The number is totally skewed by a spike in commercial aircraft orders.

Existing home sales, meanwhile, slid 5.9% last month with inventory rising to 1.33 million homes. The median price of a home? A record-high $403,700 in March. The housing dip highlights ongoing affordability headwinds. Too much mortgage at the end of the month…

Hot and Juicy Redhead

Wendy’s social media team proved they’re still the undisputed champions of cheeky banter after ribbing Katy Perry’s recent space voyage.

When the pop star returned from her 11-minute Blue Origin flight, Wendy’s X-tweeted a joke that quickly went viral…

Source: X

The brand then doubled down with a punny nod to Perry’s 2008 hit, tweeting, “I kissed the ground and I liked it,” while quipping about moon-based Biggie Bag shortages

Despite the sass, Wendy’s insists there’s “no beef” with Perry, telling Entertainment Weekly: “We always bring a little spice to our socials, but Wendy’s has a ton of respect for Katy Perry and her out-of-this-world talent.”

*groan*

While Wendy’s roasts dominate online discourse, contributors question the ethics of space tourism itself, sparking a debate about publicity versus progress…

Let’s Give ’Em Something to Talk About

“Thanks, Emily, for exposing the Blue Origin stunt for what it was,” says a frequent contributor after reading our weekend “AstroNOTS” issue.

“This stunt provides Bezos with tremendous promotion with all the name-brand ‘femstronauts.’ Wishful thinking these women would match whatever astronomical amount was spent to give to some deserving charity. *Sigh*”

On the contrary, a new contributor writes: “Emily, yours is the only critique of Blue Origin’s flight that has the credibility to warrant my response,” she says. “Publicity stunt? No argument. Gratuitous? Clearly.”

[But…]

“Can we be a little more objective?

“Space tourism has been a goal of commercial players in this space (pun intended) for some time; however, it is still in nascent stages. There remains a need to increase the comfort level of the general public.

“Not only are these flights expected revenue-generators in the future, data is gathered from each mission, including the effects on human bodies which are NOT necessarily conditioned for the dynamics experienced.

“These are just a couple of the overarching benefits I see from the Blue Origin flight and others like it. They will enable the future of commercial space travel.

“Bottom line: Given that the public can become complacent (i.e. after the NASA programs of the 1960s), add a hook, raise the profile and give ’em something to talk about.”

Finally, she adds: “Had the participants been all male, would we be having this conversation?”

Emily: Fair point.

Scrutiny, in my opinion, was inevitable — depending whether the mission felt like a leap forward or a PR moonshot.

And if you caught my weekend piece, you already know where I stand!

Take care, and we’ll catch up with you tomorrow…

Best regards,

Emily Clancy
Associate editor, Paradigm Pressroom's 5 Bullets