As spiraling tariff worries hammer U.S. stocks, legendary investor Bill Gross is urging prospective dip-buyers to stay on the sidelines.
The co-founder and former chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co. said the selloff — which has dragged the S&P 500 down by more than 4% on Thursday — is a “deep market event” with little resolution in sight.
“Investors should not try to ‘catch a falling knife’,” he said in an email. “This is an epic economic and market event similar to 1971 and the end of the gold standard except with immediate negative consequences.”
President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs Wednesday, levying a minimum 10% on exporters to the U.S.. Among the most notable: the European Union faces a 20% levy, Japan a 24% tariff while China will be hit with an even higher rate.
About $2 trillion was erased from the S&P 500, while the yield on benchmark Treasuries tumbled briefly below the closely-watched 4% level.
Economists say the near-term result of his measures will likely be higher U.S. prices and slower growth, or perhaps even a recession. Trump has embraced tariffs as a tool to assert US power, revive manufacturing at home and extract geopolitical concessions.
“Trump can’t back down anytime soon,” Gross said, “He’s too macho for that.”
For now, Gross sees opportunities only in domestic names that provide relatively safe dividends in a falling interest rate world, such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.
Shares of both companies were up at 2:51 p.m. in New York Thursday, but they were down as of 12:25 p.m Friday.
“Even with these be careful — they are approaching ‘overbought’ territory,” Gross added.
Copyright 2025 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.