As readers may recall, U.S. stocks closed out the first quarter on a weak note, with the S&P 500 down about 4%, driven by a bout of concern over AI spending and premonitions that the Trump administration may not be as business friendly as many investors had hoped.

At the beginning of the second quarter, President Trump announced wide-reaching tariffs on substantially all the U.S.’s trading partners. This caused the S&P 500 to drop sharply, declining over 11% between April 1 – April 8.