The ‘American exceptionalism’ trade died awfully fast

News Snapshot:

After Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, investors were stoked about “American exceptionalism” — the prospect that the US economy and stock market would trounce just about every other nation’s. “The US economy is set to outperform other advanced economies next year,” Oxford Economics declared last November. “American exceptionalism will endure.” “The ‘American exceptionalism’ trade is gaining momentum, driven by the potential return of ‘America First’ policies under Trump 2.0,” Bank of America told its clients in a December report. “The US outlook [is] improving versus other countries, which is also driving US equities higher versus the rest of...