Weekly Briefing - Records and tariff shocks in the same week

Here is the week in economics, explained without the jargon.

An eighth straight winning week

US stocks touched fresh record highs this week, extending a winning streak to eight consecutive weeks - the longest such run in a few years - helped along by strong earnings from AI-related companies.

Then a tariff shock hit

That streak came under real pressure later in the week after new tariff announcements from the administration triggered one of the sharpest short-term sell-offs since the pandemic. Investors moved money into government bonds as a safer place to park cash, which pushed long-term bond yields down.

Cracks beneath the record highs

Even before the tariff news, other data told a more cautious story: surveys of manufacturing and services activity came in soft, new home construction slowed, and consumer confidence fell further - all while headline stock indexes were setting records. That gap between rising markets and softer underlying data is worth remembering.

What it means for you

Record highs and a sudden tariff-driven sell-off in the same week is a good illustration of how quickly sentiment can turn on trade policy news. If you have long-term investments, this kind of short-term volatility is exactly the kind of noise that a long time horizon is meant to ride out.