On signs - The Economist:

‘There are ominous signs. The Financial Times reports that several Wall Street banks have hit their hedge-fund clients with the biggest margin calls since 2020, meaning they must stump up cash to cover their losses. Over the past three trading days American share prices have plummeted almost as fast as they did then, when the onset of the covid-19 pandemic shuttered much of the global economy. Concerningly, even the gold price dropped sharply in the days after Mr Trump’s announcement. Since gold is usually seen as a hedge against disaster, this sort of move suggests fire sales, with traders having to offload their most liquid assets to meet margin calls. On April 7th the price of ten-year Treasury bonds, another usual haven, fell as well.’

(…)

‘In different circumstances, investors would expect central bankers to slash interest rates in an attempt to loosen financial conditions and offset the hit to economic growth. Instead, on April 4th Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve’s chairman, suggested that the Fed would “wait for greater clarity”. Consumers and market participants alike already expect Mr Trump’s levies to raise inflation; for the central bank to cut rates too quickly would risk more self-fulfilling worries of the runaway sort.’

Read the article here.

It’s not the end of the world, as long as future historians won’t conclude that Liberation Day in the US was the beginning of the new great war.

As to self-fulfilling prophecies: consumers will consume, that’s wat they are consumers, but sometimes their credit cards prevent them from consuming.

When this happens to many consumers at the same time, well that’s when the the shit hits the fan.

Paradise is credit without limits. In theory at least.