Weekly Market Commentary 04/07/2017

The time-worn premise that the financial markets like to climb a “wall of worry” could not be more relevant than now. In recent weeks, a series of worrisome events has unfolded that, on the surface, should elevate a sense of angst on Wall Street as well as on Main Street. These include ramped-up dysfunction on Capitol Hill, highlighted by the health care fiasco and unseemly scuffle over the Supreme Court nominee; the resulting precarious future of the administration’s ambitious fiscal agenda; the president’s saber-rattling over North Korea and Thursday’s bombing of a Syrian airport; a looming shutdown of the government if a budget resolution is not reached by April 28; the first public assertion by the Federal Reserve that it is poised to start unwinding its $4.5 trillion portfolio of Treasury and mortgage securities later this year; and additional signs that the economy has not yet pulled out of its slow-growth trajectory.