-Analysis-
NEW YORK — Investors are ignoring Donald Trump’s trade rhetoric at their own peril.
That’s the warning coming from a rising cohort of erstwhile Trump bulls who’ve gone weak in the knees as the president turns his sights on allies from Mexico to Japan and Australia. It isn’t enough, they say, that the post-election rally that added more than $3.5 trillion to global equities and sent high-yield debt to the best start to a year since 2012 has stalled. According to them, the administration’s pledges to protect U.S. industry and redefine currency relationships could ignite a trade war with dire consequences and spark a selloff.
“The market’s way too complacent here,” Michael Cirami, a money manager at Eaton Vance Management, which oversees $343 billion, said on Bloomberg Television last week. While he was bullish in the immediate aftermath of the election, he’s more cautious now. “The tone of the administration and the political environment have deteriorated.”
