"We're going to win so much, you may even get tired of winning"

Who would've thought? Like seriously, who would've even pondered the idea that Trumps brilliant business plays would throw us into stock market lows comparable to major historical recessions? Oh ya, pretty much everyone. Welcome back for post number seven, this is going to be a bit of a short update post, building off of the last one, and catching us all up to date on the current financial news regarding our economies (Canadian and American).

Footage obtained from Standard and Poor's Global Ratings head office (S&P 500) in the New York Financial District, on April 3rd, 2025

First of all, just so we're all on the same page about what's going on here, this past Thursday, April 3rd, the S&P 500 (an index that tracks the 500 largest publicly traded companies) experienced a flying crane kick to the groin region, which resulted in a 4.8% drop in value... ouch. This staggering price decrease is the most substantial single-day decline since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, which was now 5 years ago. The reality is we are currently being throw headfirst into a policy induced recession, and there is really no stopping it or telling how far down we will go. By now we all should have a pretty decent idea of what Trump is attempting to do; tax foreign businesses incentivizing them to move operations to American soil, thereby reducing U.S imports greatly and becoming a self-sustaining country. There could be some merit to it though, who's idea was it anyways to standardize and consistently develop international trade over the past 5,000 years... oh that's right, literally any leader of any civilization for basically all of time. Who knows though, maybe Trump's next magical move up his sleeve will do the trick, but what has he done so far over the last month or so to get us here?

Here are a few of the new implementations that Trump has administered since the last Tariff blog I posted: an additional 10% on Chinese imports, a proposed 200% tariff on alcoholic beverages from the EU in response to their 50% tariff on American bourbon, another 10% tariff on all imported goods to the U.S, MORE reciprocal tariffs such as 34% on all Chinese imports and 20% more on all EU imports, and many other little jabs that Trump continues to throw at Canada and Mexico as well. Although all of these decisions are the reason our economies are currently in shambles, there is, however, a way to capitalize greatly on these types of economic events, which is a major topic that I wanted to touch on in this post. It is true that recessions make millionaires, but how? Well, there are a few different strategies which I want to touch on, that explicate what you should be doing with your money during times like these. First of all, there are a couple strategies which require a little more analysis to pull off, however they can be EXTREMELY profitable in times like this since there is a very strong bias on the direction of the market, in the near future at least. If you read my last blog post on options, then you'll be fairly familiar with the first couple strategies, which include buying put options, or shorting stocks (essentially betting a stock will go down). As you all hopefully already know, a put option contract gives you the right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying stock at a specific price (strike price), at or before a specific date (expiration date). Although this strategy does require some financial analysis and expertise to go along with it, the bias in the market is very strong right now, and is basically a guarantee that the S&P 500 will continue to drop, at least in the short-term, making this strategy a lucrative and potentially lower risk strategy at this particular time in the market.

To finish this post off, I want to leave you all with a more simple and foolproof strategy to employ your money with, and potentially make some nice profits when coming out of this recession. As the entire market is coming crashing down, now is the best time to dollar cost average and get into some positions. You can pick out your favorite companies, or as a safe bet, I would recommend just building your position in the S&P 500 through a fund that tracks it, like ticker symbol SPY. Unfortunately, the hardest part of buying the dip is actually knowing where the bottom of the dip will be, so to work around this I suggest spacing your investments out in increments of 20-30% at a time. Lets say, for example, you want to invest $10,000 into the market now that it has pulled back quite a bit; I would suggest putting $3,000 in today, another $2,000 in 1 week from now, followed by another $3,000 2 weeks from now, and the final $2,000 to make the total $10,000 in 3 weeks from now. This insures your account won't suffer as bad if the market decides to shoot down further tomorrow right after your investment, however you may also lose out on some gains if it goes back up tomorrow. Ultimately, it is a safety measure, ensuring that if the market goes against your bias you don't lose as much as you would have if you put it all in at once, however, you can also lose out on some gains if the market does move in your favor before your total $10,000 is invested. Anyhow, that is my two cents on what I think is the best way to capitalize off of Trump's bad decisions, but like always, be smart and do the proper research before you do anything with your hard earned money.

Thank you all very much for reading, and stay tuned for the next post on April 23rd!

Nolan Kushnir.