A plan to trade Trump’s trade war

Free After-Hours Analysis:

Thursday was another rocky session for the S&P 500. China countered Trump’s trade war rhetoric with some of their own. That threw cold water on global stocks overnight and the S&P 500 tumbled at the open, crashing through minor support at 2,850. While it looked like it was going to be another ugly day, Trump lifted hopes when he said a deal was still possible, sending a wave of relief through our markets and erasing a big chunk of those initial losses.

This is a headline-driven market and nothing else matters. Trump’s self-imposed deadline is Friday and no matter what happens, expect something dramatic. If Trump strikes a deal, stocks will surge in relief. If talks break down and Trump follows through with his punitive tariffs,  markets will tumble. While that is stating the obvious, the most likely outcome is a combination of the above, a postponement and continued negotiations. That is half-full enough to keep the optimists in the stock market and half-empty enough to keep wary traders from buying the dip.

While the market’s next move hinges on what Trump and the Chinese do, those outcomes will have less impact over the medium- and long-term. Trump started his trade wars last year and has long said he is willing to tax everything imported from China at 25%. The market lived under these clouds for a long time and the risks have not prevented stocks from rallying to all-time highs. No doubt the same will happen this time too.

Even if Trump escalates the trade war for the umpteenth time, the market will react, get used to it, and then move on. Good news, bad news, it all gets priced in and then forgotten. Trump’s trade war is no different.

Up, down, or sideways, the next question is how to trade this. Personally, I don’t have any insight into whether Trump and the Chinese will strike a deal Friday or not. I don’t try to predict the headlines and I’m not going to start now. That said, how the market reacts to these headlines will give us something good to trade.

If a deal is reached: All is forgiven. The stock market is off to the races and we should stick with what has been working, which is buy-and-hold. The market will rally in relief as one more risk falls by the wayside.

If negotiations continue in a constructive way: The market will rally some as we avoid the worst case scenario. The market is buyable for anyone with a longer-term investment horizon. But as we’ve seen countless times over the last 12 months, there is lots of back and forth during these protracted negotiations. That means we should expect some dips and gyrations along the way as the inevitable snags drag us down. That means better prices might be ahead of us if someone wants to take advantage of a short-term move. As long as the market trades sideways and remains volatile, buy the dips and sell the rips.

And if talks fail: Let the market tumble. But rather than fear the collapse, get ready to buy the inevitable oversold condition. Emotional traders make poor decisions and that includes selling stocks at unreasonably low prices. Their pain becomes our gain. (You remembered to keep some cash handy to buy the dip right?)

Get a resolution and prices will quickly return to the highs. Protracted negotiations mean we could see further weakness. And a busted deal will lead to a sharp, but buyable selloff.

It is cliche, but only because it is true, “Plan your trade, and trade your plan.”

Sign up for FREE Email Alerts to get profitable insights like these delivered to your inbox every week.

What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
For less than $1/day, have profitable analysis like this delivered to your inbox every day during market hours

Follow Jani on Twitter @crackedmarket

Tags: S&P 500 Nasdaq $SPY $SPX $QQQ $IWM $AAPL $AMZN