INVESTMENT COMMENTARY & Outlook
July 2025
Our growth portfolios exploded to the upside in the second quarter. The stock market reversal that commenced on Wednesday, April 9th, after President Trump on Truth Social said: "This is a great time to buy!" has been historic. Louis Navellier had Bespoke's Paul Hickey as a guest on Navellier Market Buzz, who pointed out that such dramatic 20% reversals are rare and have only ever happened four times, but when they happen the stock market is higher three months, six months and one-year later. So as our favorite economist, Ed Yardeni, recently pointed out, the stock market is "melting up."
What is driving the recent strength in the stock market is that President Trump's economic agenda is unfolding, despite many skeptical observers, including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. The most fascinating news was that Chairman Powell recently admitted, during a European Central Bank (ECB) forum in Portugal, that the Fed would have cut key interest rates had President Trump not proposed tariffs. Specifically, Powell said: "In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs." When Powell was asked if July would be too soon for markets to expect a rate cut, the Fed Chairman said that that he "really can't say" and .…