'Dismal': Economic outlook falls to 30-year low amid topsy-turvy Trump term

Economic worries created by President Donald Trump’s massive tariff campaign have sunk investor sentiment into one of its lowest points on record – even lower than the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

That’s according to a report in the Independent, which detailed a new survey that found attitudes among global fund managers have now entered their fifth lowest point on record.

“Investor feeling was only worse in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attack, the global financial crisis, Trump’s first-term trade war with China, and the 2022 inflation crisis,” the Independent reported Thursday, citing survey data.

The Bank of America Fund Manager Survey, which gauged feelings among 164 global fund managers managing a cumulative $386 billion in assets, was conducted two days after Trump rolled out his sweeping set of tariffs in a Rose Garden “liberation day” announcement earlier this month.

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It shed new light on the public’s perceptions of the president’s now-signature economic plan that has since wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy and driven fears that a recession is on the horizon.

“The data captures a variety of alarming signs for the global economic outlook,” according to The Independent. “Growth expectations fell to a 30-year low, with nearly half of fund managers saying they expected a ‘hard landing’ for the global economy over the next 12 months.”

The “dismal fund manager sentiment” comes as the Federal Reserve warned of increased inflation and slowing growth as a result of Trump’s aggressive tariffs, the Independent added.

And an even more disruptive period could be in store for anxious investors. Trump has threatened as recently as Thursday that he may seek to terminate Fed Chair Jerome Powell, despite him lacking the legal authority to remove someone from the independent entity, the report noted.