10. That he doesn’t know what he wants would explain why he could be so easily moved away from the “reciprocal tariffs.” Secs. Bessent and Lutnick didn’t have to do much to convince him. All they had to do was get him alone and away from that zealot, Peter Navarro.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

9. Here’s what Fox Business reporter Charles Gasparino reported Monday:

8. It’s like investors have given up trying to understand what Trump wants to do, in part because none of it makes sense to them, but also in part because even he doesn’t seem to know what he wants to do.

7. The Wall Street Journal summed things up in this hed and dek from Monday night:

www.wsj.com/finance/inve...

6. Then there’s the matter of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. Trump keeps threatening to fire him if he does not lower interest rates. The AP:

5. The AP: “Treasurys and the dollar have historically strengthened during episodes of nervousness. This time around, though, it’s policies directly from Washington that are causing the fear and potentially weakening their reputations as some of the world’s safest investments.”

4. That’s not what’s happening. Trust is long gone. On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 2.4% “in another wipeout,” according to the AP. The Dow Jones fell 2.5%, the Nasdaq 2.6 percent. More worryingly, the AP said, is that US gov't bonds and the value of the dollar also fell.

apnews.com/article/stoc...

3. But if Trump’s position were a matter of conviction, markets might be able to adjust, as conviction would beget a clear explanation and a coherent plan of action, which in time would beget some kind of stable order that investors might not like in the end, but could come to trust.

2. Yes, I know.

The conventional explanation for why markets have been tanking is the realization that Trump really meant what he said on the campaign trail, and that his position on tariffs and trade wasn’t just rhetorical but firmer, stronger and more ideological than investors believed.