Post-election bulls may be overlooking Trump risk

New York

INVESTORS are ignoring Donald Trump's trade rhetoric at their own peril.

That's the warning coming from a rising cohort of erstwhile Trump bulls who've gone weak in the knees as the president turns his sights on allies from Mexico to Japan and Australia. It isn't enough, they say, that the post-election rally that added more than US$3.5 trillion to global equities and sent high-yield debt to the best start to a year since 2012 has stalled. According to them, the administration's pledges to protect US industry and redefine currency relationships could ignite a trade war with dire consequences and spark a selloff.