Articles authored by Sonu Varghese
Here’s How the US Tax Code Results in a Larger Trade Deficit
Happy Tax Day! Or not. Though if you’re a large multinational, tax day in the US doesn’t really matter. In fact, to “celebrate” Tax Day, I’m going to discuss how the US tax code impacts the trade deficit. This is very relevant now because of everything going on around tariffs, with one of the stated …
3 Unusual Things About This Selloff
(Updated as of 3pm CST 4/9/2025) We had the largest tariffs in over 100 years on for about 12 hours, before President Trump paused them for 90 days for countries that did not retaliate. That’s a relief, though we could be right back here in 90 days. But hopefully this gives the White House time …
A Solid Payroll Report Means the Fed Stays on the Sidelines
The economy created 228,000 jobs in May, well above the 140,000 that was expected by forecasters. Monthly numbers can be noisy (especially since some of the jobs created could be a rebound from lower-than-expected numbers after terrible weather January and February) and so let’s look at the three-month average. That’s running at 152,000, which should …
The Tariffs Are a Big Deal and Risks Are Very High
Tariffs are here and in a big, big way, much bigger than anyone expected. And it isn’t really reciprocal tariffs. The calculation of tariffs is based on the trade deficit the US has with each country, and nothing to do with actual tariffs other countries charge on US goods. For example, say a country exports …
Tariffs Will Likely Put the Fed in a Tricky Spot
Liberation Day is here, but we’re still waiting to for the exact nature of our liberation. Will it be reciprocal tariffs, with the US reciprocating other countries’ tariff rates on US goods? These will be enormously complicated to implement. Or will it be President Trump’s preferred approach of imposing a blanket 20% universal tariff on …
Consumers Expect Stagflation, But Here’s Why That’s Unlikely
It’s not surprising that consumer sentiment has plunged over the last two months amid all the market volatility, and headlines around tariffs and layoffs (even beyond the federal government). Two popular surveys of consumer sentiment, from the University of Michigan and The Conference Board, have seen sentiment more than reverse all the gains made in …
The Fed Is Stuck Waiting, and That’s a Problem
The Federal Reserve (Fed) opted to keep their policy rate unchanged, leaving it at the 4.25-4.5% target range. This was not unexpected, but all eyes were on the Fed’s “dot plot,” which is their Summary of Economic Projections. It’s updated every three months and contains individual member estimates of the federal funds rate over the …
Why Germany’s Epic Announcement May Be a Potential Game Changer for the Global Economy & Markets
Over the last month, the market conversation has been so dominated by tariffs that it’s been hard to tune into anything else happening in the global economy. This is not to say that the newly implemented tariffs are insignificant—as I wrote recently, the tariffs are unprecedented and a big deal. But their impact on the …
No Recession in Sight for the US Economy, but No Cyclical Acceleration Either
The February employment report was a bit mixed. It didn’t tell us much that is new about the US economy, but that in and of itself is a story, depending on your expectations: If you were expecting near recession-like conditions, we don’t have that If you were expecting GDP growth to be closer to 3% …
Ten Questions on Tariffs, the Economy, Markets, and Our Outlook
Ok, tariffs happened. But now what is the big question—for policy, the economy, and obviously, markets. Here are Carson Investment Research’s answer to 10 key questions. One: What tariffs went into effect? At 12:01am on March 4th, new tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China went into effect. These included: 25% tariffs on all Canadian …