Christopher Shipley: Navigating US Equities, Tariffs, and Global Markets in 2025

·25 min·2 clips

Chris Shipley explains why U.S. stocks shrugged off Middle East tensions, linking it to energy independence and oil prices.

The episode features an interview with Chris Shipley, Senior Vice President and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Fort Washington Investment Advisors, who oversees about $90 billion in assets. Host Mike Wolberg opens by asking about U.S. equities' resilience to Middle East tensions, with Shipley attributing it to reduced U.S. oil dependency and rational market focus on economic implications. Shipley then addresses the underperformance of U.S. equities versus global markets, explaining it as a rotation from growth to value, highlighting that the U.S. market is 32% tech compared to 7% in Europe. The discussion shifts to tariffs, where Shipley calculates that a 10% trade-weighted tariff would have less than a 1% impact on U.S. GDP, with minimal effects on consumers and corporate margins. He notes market confidence has improved due to delayed implementation and legal challenges. Shipley expresses concerns about U.S. bargaining power weakening from court decisions. The conversation turns to global equity exposure, with Shipley favoring U.S. investments due to growth opportunities from AI, despite recent underperformance. He discusses the yield curve's role in policy decisions, citing Treasury Secretary Besset's influence. Shipley highlights the U.S. home affordability crisis, where income needed for a median home has risen from $79,000 to $127,000 since 2021. He identifies risks from low market margins of safety and consumer struggles but sees opportunities in AI beneficiaries, from infrastructure to traditional companies, and in small caps due to low valuations. The episode concludes with Shipley sharing his first job at Allstate and advice on networking and challenging the status quo.

As heard by us

A measured look at oil, tariffs, market math, and the value of questioning inherited work habits.

US equities in 2025 are viewed through the practical channels that connect geopolitical risk to markets. Chris Shipley tells Mike Wolberg that Middle East tensions have not much unsettled US stocks because investors are watching oil prices as the clearest route back into the US…

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You want to know why US stocks can shrug at Middle East tensions while tariffs keep markets guessing.

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