Money Monday

The Market Week Ahead! "Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says "No reason for markets to price in a Recession"

Candlestick chart on a black background shows a downward trend with red and green bars and purple, yellow, and white lines. — Akin investments

The stock market plunge has more to do with the emergence this year of China's DeepSeek artificial intelligence tool than with President Donald Trump's policies, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview released on Friday that signaled little concern about the ongoing nosedive.

"For everyone who thinks these market declines are all based on the President's economic policies, I can tell you that this market decline started with the Chinese AI announcement of DeepSeek," Bessent told conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.

Bloomberg

As I write this post here a just a few of the headlines jockeying for position ahead of Mondays Market Open:

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday struck a defiant tone in the face of global financial markets selling off sharply in response to new US tariffs, arguing the duties were necessary and rejecting the idea that they would cause a US recession.

“I see no reason that we have to price in a recession,” Bessent told NBC’s Meet the Press with Kristen Welker.

Bessent — along with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and White House trade czar Peter Navarro in separate comments — gave no indication that President Donald Trump was willing to back down on the sweeping new tariffs he introduced last week. He said more than 50 countries had called the administration seeking negotiations, but any talks are going to take time.

Reuters

The S&P has lost nearly 14% since February 19, and nearly $10 trillion of U.S. stock market value has been erased.

Bessent is only the latest Trump administration official to shrug off the plunge in markets, which has intensified following Trump's announcement on Wednesday of a global baseline import tax of 10% and much higher rates for goods from dozens of countries. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been dismissive of the drop as well.