Grade A Corporate Deutsche Bank Aktien 6.15% 04/30/2035 Callable
Newly issued, no purchase fee, Schwab.

This is reassuring:
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/19/inside-trump-mindset-tariffs
The intrigue: Trump keeps such a huge team of advisers because he invariably solicits conflicting opinions. He often suffers from analysis paralysis and can be particularly influenced by whomever he talks with last.
"We saw it in business with Trump," one adviser said. "He would have these meetings and everyone would agree, and then we would just pray that when he left the office and got on the elevator that the doorman wouldn't share his opinion, because there would be a 50/50 chance [Trump] would suddenly side with the doorman."

Randall Forsyth writing in Barron’s this week -
Forsyth mocks a recent government accounting gimmick designed to hide the full extent of the U.S. budget deficit, recalling a famous but ill-fated British effort to cope with a financial problem a century ago: “The 1925 decision to restore the pound’s parity was favored by the City of London establishment, with economist John Maynard Keynes providing a rare dissent because of the damage he correctly anticipated to the British economy. Sterling would be restored as a major international reserve currency, but its global importance, and that of Great Britain, would never regain their former greatness.”
The article examines how the trade wars may affect U.S. investors - in stocks and bonds alike. Forsyth cites T.S. Lombard’s global head of macro trading who thinks firing Powell would pave the way for a loss of faith in the Dollar as the world’s reserve currency. He also delves into global ship building, relative naval power - and much more.
In all of this Forsyth finds parallels to Scott Fitzgerald’s 100-year old classic The Great Gatsby …
Opening : ”This April marks the centennials of the publication of F Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby. On Long Island, the setting for the novel, much has changed. The fictional West Egg, the putatively less prestigious village just over the border from Queens, today is filled with mansions rivaling Gatsby's own along Manhasset Bay. On the bay's other side, in East Egg, where the green light shone at the end of Daisy Buchanan's dock, the few remaining legendary Gold Coast estates now are public museums or village facilities. The former old-money families, including the Guggenheims, Harrimans, and Vanderbilts, have been supplanted by entrepreneur billionaires who founded companies such as Home Depot and Arizona Iced Tea.”
Closing: ”For now, the parties continue … To paraphrase Fitzgerald, we are careless people, willing to smash things up, including the status of the dollar”.
Sourced From: “U.S. Spending Threatens the Dollar’s Status. Wake Up, America”
By Randall W. Forsyth - Barron’s April 18, 2025

The Week in Charts (04/18/25)
The most important charts and themes in markets and investing, including:
00:00 Intro
00:18 Topics
00:52 Global Trade Chaos
06:40 A Self-Inflicted Recession?
14:50 "The US Doesn't Make Anything Anymore"
19:35 The Mag 7 Revaluation
24:07 Are Markets Questioning US Exceptionalism?
33:02 The Golden Age for Gold
37:12 House Rich, Cash Rich
45:49 Transition From Goods to Services
Video
Blog

James Stack in his latest update to subscribers today:
”Our portfolio remains positive for the year, while the S&P 500 is down -10.2% and the Nasdaq Composite has tumbled -15.7% year-to-date.” - *InvesTech Research
I read Stack but don’t use his recommended allocations. My own portfolio is also slightly positive for the year with around 40% equities & 10% real-assets.

No guarantees in investing, ever. And Mr. Market hates uncertainty. There are countless possible flavors of THAT. But the current scene is beyond the beyond. This is like no one would ever have dared to imagine. That must be admitted. I pulled some profits very early in January, which is my habit each year. Glad I did not wait. Since then, I'm down, though not alarmingly. It's about -5%. My largest holding by far is PRWCX, which has clocked a YTD loss of -3.26% by itself. My single stocks (just two) are up in terms of my Total Return, but ET is still down YTD by -10.18%. No more Junk in the portfolio. WCPNX is up marginally, though I am down marginally... Cash is up to 24% of total. Presently, I'm wanting LOTS of ballast. Less than half in equities.

Gman57. Agree completely about four years.

"The nice thing is there’s a point of view to match every type of investor or political leaning."
This is very true!
"My take - The major indexes are off for the year. But that follows a couple stellar years."
The S&P 500 had two consecutive years with 25% or greater returns in 2023 and 2024.
This has only occurred a few times during the index's history.
Many domestic large-cap stocks were richly valued at the beginning of the year.
We know that stock market corrections can occur at any time.
But the sheer level of uncertainty surrounding tariffs has created significant investor angst.
"Point is there’s always something worth investing in."
Both of my foreign equity funds and all my bond funds have positive returns YTD.
Portfolio diversification has been beneficial thus far in 2025.
I don't try to time markets nor do I make major portfolio changes based on politics.

Junkster. None of our business of course but when you say “my long time lady friend,” does that mean friend or relationship? The way things are going a relationship between a regime supporter and a long time non maga is in trouble. Sorta a microcosm of the nation.

25 year romantic relationship. She is my neighbor. Prettiest blue eyes to such an extent that even at 76 years old strangers stop her on the streets to comment on her eyes. And without one bit of exaggeration have never seen her in a bad mood, always has a smile on her face, and never makes demands upon me. Our only stressor at times is when I ask her to change TV stations from Fox News. But she readily obliges. I can’t give that up!

The Ask the Compound crew received many questions from anxious readers expressing concerns
about stocks and the present investing environment. The crew provides some context for the current situation
and offers potentially helpful suggestions. There is a link to the corresponding video at the end of the article.
https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2025/04/investing-in-an-uncertain-world/

But who believes slapping huge tariffs on our friends is positive?
They weren't the last time.

The [Smoot-Hawley] tariffs upended relations with America’s northern neighbor, Canada. The outbreak of protectionism infuriated Canadians, who retaliated strongly with tariffs of their own. Canadian nationalism surged, and in the elections that year — an eerie parallel to this year — the party that was seen as most authentically anti-American won.

Op-Ed, Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post, April 18, 2025
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/18/trump-tariffs-smoot-hawley-great-depression/

notice he didn’t say anything about destruction of due process, the rule of law, ignoring court orders, or gutting the world’s best research universities.
without the rule of law, no investor in the US can ever be sure again they can get their money back. If they try to fire Powell does anyone doubt the market will drop 15%?
What people like FD1000 ignore are the methods being employed.
We can disagree that tariffs will never create show manufacturing factories again in the US, although no reasonable economist believes this. But who believes slapping huge tariffs on our friends is positive? The Canadians hate this, and are going to be extremely reluctant to cooperate in actions against Chinese dumping etc.

OCC has issued conditional approval for Capital One/COF and Discover/DFS merger. Condition is the removal of some past regulatory issues at both companies - COF will submit a written plan for remedies.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/capital-one-discover-deal-gets-113110250.html
OCC (short) https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2025/nr-occ-2025-36.html
OCC (long) https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2025/nr-occ-2025-36a.pdf

This WSJ news is from Morningstar website. Basically, among the Big 3, S&P and Fitch have downgraded the US already, and Moody's may be getting ready too.
FWIW, the 4th credit rating agency is Morningstar DBRS and it has reaffirmed US AAA rating.
https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/451559/morningstar-dbrs-confirms-the-united-states-of-america-at-aaa-stable-trend
For a full alphabetical list of US credit rating agencies, see https://www.sec.gov/about/divisions-offices/office-credit-ratings/current-nrsros

Lost of investor’s confidence could have dire consequences.
There is a new candidate for FED chair position once Powell term expires in 2026.
https://msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-wants-powell-out-of-the-fed-waiting-in-the-wings-is-kevin-warsh/ar-AA1Dadpa?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=a716bf975c1d458898da5ac14560bbe2&ei=98
Rumor has it that Scott Bessent may be interested in the same position.

Slowed growth from tariffs, paired with bigger tax cuts, are likely to push the deficit up by about one-third over the next decade to 8.5% of GDP, Moody's said. The firm changed its outlook on the U.S. to negative in 2023 but has held off on a downgrade, citing the unique strength of the U.S. dollar and Treasury market.

https://morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/202503278311/moodys-edges-closer-to-us-downgrade

Hmm, I think we disagree quite a bit on all that.
I think the extreme pessimism is highly warranted and appropriate now and for the next 3 years, 9 months, if he manages to hold the office to term.
We're only three months in and he's already managed to bring markets and economies to the brink of destruction. And he now had Powell in his cross-hairs in an attempt to save his insane fiscal policies.
With all than, AND having endured his 1.0 act, IMO, we are effectively sitting on a ticking time bomb.
capecod, former major league bond trader, CEF savant, and one of the most legendary investment forum posters of all-time, also has a different take. Though he would likely never invest in a CD, he always has regarded (paraphrasing) "meaningful diversification as investment in anything that guarantees a positive total return."
If I scope all taxable bond OEFs available at Fido, I find there are 1802 splattered over 19 pages. If I sort them by "Worst to Best" performance for example 5 years, I find there are 12.5/19 pages that have TRs of LESS than the APY of my 5-yr CD ladder. 3 years, 15.5/19 pages with TRs LESS than.
That ain't "meaningful diversification" to me.
So, to an investor like me, who regards bonds pretty much as a 4-letter word and at one time, a necessary evil, I decided to AVOID dedicated bond funds after their last great crash, except for some small toeholds in 3 low risk finds that I recently bought with stock sale proceeds.
So basically in the past coupla years I exchanged our dedicated bond fund allocation for a 5-yr CD ladder.
I don't have to "hope" (as, IMO, most average bond fund investor do, yourself of course excluded) for annual TRs of 4%-5% from that sleeve. I don't have to "hope' the bond funds I select will be in the minority of dedicated bond funds that outperform my CD ladder. I get 5+% guaranteed, FDIC'd, with Rolex-clocklike interest payments, and full return of my principal at maturity.
And if history at least rhymes, our CD ladder will outperform over time, over 50% of all bond funds available at Fido. Meanwhile, we will, as always, continue to make our real investment money in stocks.
Maybe I misunderstood you, but if not, how is this strategy NOT investing? By definition, we're committing money to earn a financial return.

Observant1, the usual, trash Trump and lots of politics.
The facts: during Trump's first admin: inflation was low, real wages went up.
Biden's admin: highest inflation in 40 years, real suffering among consumers.
The rest is just noise = "It's the economy, stupid"
All politicians lie and exaggerate. Nothing is ever perfect.
The left got extreme and was replaced. Many still can't come to the center.
Biden's admin claimed that the border has been closed for years, and they need more money to handle it. That's a lie you can't ignore.
Trump did it in weeks.
Biden's admin let millions of unvetted illegals come in; thousands were criminals. Trump is cleaning up.
Trump told you what he is going to do: lower taxes, close the border, kick out high-level criminals, and impose tariffs. Eliminating boys playing women's sports. Reducing government/state employees. He is doing it.
Most people understand why Trump is using tariffs and admit the unfair practices. They hate how Trump is doing it. I get it. We tried other tactics, and they didn't work. Give the guy several months, and let's talk. Yes, it is difficult; markets are volatile, and Dems scream murder. What matters is the end result. You start from 30-50-150% tariffs...and you get 10%(and some cases a lot more). That's a win. If you start from 10-15%, you get 2%.
In the past:
Trump asked NATO countries to pay more; they laughed until he told them the US would not support them...and they paid more. That was rude, tough, and unconventional among allies...but it worked.
Putin attacked Ukraine during Obama and Biden, but not Trump.
So, go ahead and scream 3 times daily; the Trump's agenda has been implemented...or...maybe come back to center and join forces with more common sense, as Clinton did.
My main point stands: this thread was a rant about NOTHING.
Lastly, what should you do with your portfolio?
The easy route for most is doing nothing. Invest based on your goals.
I'm a bond trader based on current conditions and did exactly that. No complaints.
BTW, using words like ignorance, pathetic, nazi, crazy tell me a lot about someone.