I’ve never seen a president asking citizens to buy stocks before.

My impression was that these leaders would need to be stoic, firm but friendly, and have a charismatic yet commanding presence, since they represent the face of the nation.

But America has changed my perspective on this, especially since Trump won the election for his second term.

In his first 100 days, he promised to deliver a lot of things to the US, including a more secure border, lower prices, stable jobs, a better stock market, and to resolve the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

But a lot of those promises were (obviously) not kept, and some even broken.

The world went into turmoil when Trump announced steep tariffs to global nations on April 2.

The past month has been a flurry of uncertainties, with China battling with the US, imposing “tit-for-tat” tariffs that raised import duties between both nations to more than 100%.

But now, Trump is looking to U-turn many of those tariffs. He recently implemented a 90-day pause on tariffs towards other nations (except China), and is willing to negotiate if other countries bring better deals to the table.

The markets, like ping-pong, bounced back and forth, swinging from a 14% decline to a 15% gain.

There goes Trump’s “promise” on making the stock market better.

More recently (on 8 May), Trump has asked citizens to buy stocks, saying that the US will be like a “rocket ship” that no one has ever seen before.

“You better go out and buy stock now,” he said. “Let me tell you, this country will be like a rocket ship that goes straight up.”

“This going to be numbers that nobody’s ever seen before.”

This comes as the US and the UK are negotiating a deal to fast-track American goods through their customs and reduce barriers on agricultural, chemical, energy and industrial exports.

The full details would still be discussed over the coming weeks.

The markets listened to Trump.

The S&P gained 1.23% in the past week, shooting past its pre-tariff levels on April 2.

Most Magnificent 7 stocks (except Apple) have shown a similar recovery.

In fact, Netflix breached a new all-time high of $1,140, up 28.29% on a YTD basis.

The Malaysian market tagged along but ringgit fell.

The FBMKLCI gained 11.46% since April 2, with major stocks—Public Bank and Tenaga—exceeding their pre-tariff levels.

The ringgit, which was on a roll against the dollar previously, has retraced and cooled off, currently trading at RM4.2940.

This is, in large part, due to the recovery in the dollar index, as Trump’s buy call in the stock market invigorated interest towards the US dollar.

While markets jumped, Bitcoin soared.

The flagship cryptocurrency strengthened by 7.44% in the past week, currently at its highest level since February.

On a year to date basis, Bitcoin is up almost 10%.

At $103,000, it is only ~6% away from its all-time high of $109,000.

Gold retraced from its all-time high.

The precious metal has been on a roll this year due to:

• lower interest rates globally

• geopolitical conflict

• uncertainties from Trump’s tariffs.

While it has retraced by 5.30% from its all-time high of $3,500 per ounce, experts believe that gold’s rally is likely to continue, as Trump may still rock the market with uncertainties.

How will the markets move going forward?

Some experts believe that the worst of Trump’s tariffs may just be over, and that it’s all up from here. 🚀

However, I don’t think this is near the end. I spoke with Economist Mr Sani over lunch on Friday, who shared a similar view. He explained that the second wave of downside has not arrived.

It’s as if the stock market has already forgotten that, even though Trump has lifted tariffs for most countries, there is still a 10% baseline tariff, which broader impacts on the global economy remain uncertain.

Mr Sani believes that this upside is temporary, going further to say that it may just be a “dead cat bounce".

So should I invest now?

Rather than constantly monitoring the market and waiting for the “right time” to invest, the best approach is still to Dollar Cost Average (DCA).

Now is probably the worst time to “go hero” and go all-into the market because of what Trump said.

Adopting the DCA strategy ensures that you won’t be caught off guard from sudden crashes, and you’ll “average” your purchases along with the markets, whether up or down.

But if you haven’t started, now is always a good time to get exposure, regardless of how the broader market is performing.

To sum things up:

• The worst may not be over.

• If you have not started, start a bit now.

• Dollar cost average is still the best strategy.

• Don't catch a falling knife.

That’s all for this week’s newsletter!

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