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Ripple Effect

‘Ere Come the Tariff Headwinds

Loading ...Addison Wiggin

August 12, 2025 • 1 minute, 38 second read


consumerscorporate profitstariffs

‘Ere Come the Tariff Headwinds

If you’re a big-cap tech company, you have a huge advantage in markets right now. You’re able to license your software, sell your gadgets, and not worry about the impact of tariffs.

For companies that rely on tariffs, it’s a different story. That’s because, as President Trump continues to tinker with tariff rates, most companies have operated as though it’s just a short-term headwind:

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Businesses are largely eating the costs of tariffs, a trend that can’t last forever. (Source: Goldman Sachs)

With businesses eating two-thirds of the costs of tariffs, import-dependent companies are likely to have a weak growth profile as long as tariffs last.

And with trade deals leaving some higher level of tariffs in place compared to a year ago, it’s another reason why the S&P 493 will likely continue to underperform the Magnificent 7 plays.

For the time being, businesses are sacrificing profit margins at the expense of inflation – an unsustainable trend. And another hallmark of the divergence between the tech mania on Wall Street and the real economy.

~ Addison

 

P.S. Of course, some companies are benefitting from the changing tariff regime, as well as from President Trump’s other economic policies, which are more clearly pro-growth.

That’s why it’s critical to know the best places to invest right now. Our research on President Trump’s MAGAnificent 7 plays is a great place to start.

A special note to Grey Swan subscribers: This week’s Grey Swan Live! will be held on Friday at 11 AM, not Thursday. We’re in the middle of some new groundbreaking research – and will have even more details that afternoon. But our paid-up Fraternity members will get an early sneak peek at what we see developing.

For now, mark your calendar:

Sneak Peek Grey Swan Live!
 Friday, August 15, 2025
11am ET

As always, your reader feedback is welcome: feedback@greyswanfraternity.com (We read all emails. Thanks in advance for your contribution.)


The Mirage of High Income

November 19, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

We’ve lived through the greatest borrowing binge in modern history, and yet the national mood feels poorer, more brittle, less confident.

There’s a familiar pattern here: the higher the noise, the more critical it becomes to tune it out. The markets will surge and swoon, the political class will posture, and commentators will insist that this time is different.

Our biggest concern, meanwhile, is that with a collapsing stock market, economic anxiety will reach fever highs. And with it the political divide in the country will become even more performative, expressive and violent.

Civil society cannot sustain a credit crisis.

The real work — the only work that actually matters — happens at the level of your own finances, your own decisions, your own family. No administration, blue or red, can insulate you from a balance sheet that doesn’t balance.

The Mirage of High Income
Bonfire in Timber (Prices)!

November 19, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

Timber is among several commodities declining this year. Oil, down 15%. Wheat minus 10%. Egg prices have gotten over the avian flu and are down 80%.

Lower commodity costs are good for consumers. They offset tariff costs to wholesalers. And they are good for this year’s political pet issue, “affordability.”

But they also reflect a sore spot in the overall economy. Lower demand for timber, a key component in housing, means builders aren’t building.

Many economists interpret lower timber prices as a sign that the economy is already in recession.

Bonfire in Timber (Prices)!
The Debasement “Trade”

November 18, 2025 • Mark Jeftovic

Bitcoin isn’t a trade and trying to time it with chart patterns generally does not work.

I’ve never really felt like technical analysis carried much real predictive edge in general and when it comes to BTC, I’ve seen too many failed “death crosses” to change my opinion.

The one that just triggered in mid-November as bitcoin flirted with $90,000 is just the latest.

What really matters? It’s a monetary regime change – if market participants are trading anything it’s getting rid of a currency (“it’s the denominator, stupid”) for a store of value – and we’re seeing it in spades with Bitcoin and gold.

The Debasement “Trade”
The Cult of Stock Market Riches

November 18, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

White-collar hiring is, in fact, slowing. Engel’s Pause is taking hold of the jobs picture.

In the meantime, everyday Americans are rediscovering an ancient truth: there is wisdom in wearing steel-toed boots.

Jobs that struggle to attract bodies in boom times are now seeing stampedes of applicants.

– Georgia’s Department of Corrections: applications up 40%.

– The U.S. military: reached 2025 recruiting goals early.

– Waste management staffing: applications up 50%.

For now, economists call this “labor market tightness.” Anyone who has ever scrubbed a grease trap knows it by another name: fear.

The Cult of Stock Market Riches