How to stay calm amid tariffs frenzy
In this Sunday edition of BI Today, we're talking about how to weather the tariff storm.
Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI
- This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
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Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. Have you ever paid attention to the luxury watches "The White Lotus" characters wear? It turns out they might be able to provide some clues into tonight's season finale.
On the agenda today:
- Entrepreneurial young people flock to "mini private equity" as the job market stagnates.
- First came tech layoffs. Now there's DOGE. What's a Gen Zer to do?
- Floyd Mayweather Jr. bragged about a $400 million property deal. There's just one problem.
- "I begin spying for Deel": An ex-Rippling employee details his days of corporate espionage in Ireland court filing.
But first: Stay calm.
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This week's dispatch
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
How to navigate the chaos
The headlines are scary.
Stocks are cratering. The trade war is intensifying. Odds of a recession are jumping. Opening your 401(k) is disorienting.
But here's the thing: Most market pros say panicking is just about the worst thing you can do right now.
Think back to March 2020. The world was shutting down at the onset of the pandemic. Stocks plunged rapidly. Yet, as terrifying as that sell-off was, it proved to be short-lived. Five years later, the S&P 500 is sharply higher than it was back then (even including this year's drop).
Vanguard sent a note to customers this week advising them to "resist the urge to deviate from your financial plan" amid rising uncertainty. It noted the market's best- and worst-performing days tend to occur in close succession.
"Investors who have stayed the course during downturns have been able to take advantage of market recoveries and have typically come out ahead of those who moved to the sidelines," the fund manager said.
Still, the impulse to take drastic measures is strong.
It's human nature. My BI colleague Max Adams outlines three things investors can consider to weather the worst of the downturn: don't overreact, consider defensive stocks, and don't try to time the market.
If last week taught us anything, it's that the market is not a place to park cash you might need soon. Having some investments in cash or cash equivalents, like a money market fund, is important.
Things could get worse before they get better. The S&P 500 is squarely in correction territory. The Nasdaq is already in a bear market.
Michael Antonelli, a market strategist for Baird Private Wealth Management, offered a viewpoint that stuck with me. He told clients not to let fear take over during these tumultuous times.
"When uncertainty reigns, your reaction to it determines your success or failure," he wrote to clients. "Hunkering down and waiting for a storm to pass is sometimes the correct course of action."
How are you navigating the markets? I'd love to hear from you, drop me a line at today@businessinsider.com.
The young entrepreneurs flocking to 'mini private equity'
Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI
Well, it's not exactly private equity. MBAs and young professionals are setting their sights on search funds — which seek to buy and grow small businesses — amid white-collar job insecurity.
But the model isn't always glamorous, and the memes are rampant.
I graduated. Now what?
C.J. Burton for BI
As DOGE layoffs set in, Gen Z is entering a shaky postgrad landscape. Students who hoped to work in public service — or fields relying on federal funding and contracts — are starting to reconsider.
How about graduate school or even the private sector? Those aren't so easy, either.
Also read:
Unwrapping a boxer's bold claims
John Nacion/Getty Images
Retired boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. has sought to refashion himself as a budding business mogul. In February, he talked a big game about a $400 million purchase of 62 Manhattan apartment buildings.
In the month since his announcement, however, there's been no evidence that any of those buildings have changed hands. It's not his only real-estate claim that doesn't appear to match reality.
An accused corporate spy comes forward
Rebecca Zisser/BI
An ex-employee of Rippling, an HR software company, detailed his days of corporate espionage on behalf of rival Deel in an Ireland court filing. Some memorable moments: hiding in a bathroom, getting an offer to move to Dubai, and smashing a phone with an ax.
The accused also said Deel's CEO was directly involved.
He says the CEO even brought up James Bond.
This week's quote:
"I've been saying this for two years. Tesla needs to be Tesla."
— Early Tesla investor Ross Gerber, who thinks the carmaker's issues go beyond Elon Musk's DOGE involvement.
More of this week's top reads:
- Deloitte is the biggest loser so far in DOGE's consulting crackdown.
- Cheating on technical interviews is soaring. Managers don't know what to do.
- BI's reviews team selects the best tax software of 2025.
- Here are the 20 highest-paying jobs in America.
- Adobe's HR chief tells staff: We're done with DEI hiring goals.
- Meet the two twenty-somethings running Palantir's healthcare AI business.
- YouTube is about to eclipse Disney as the biggest media company in the world.
- Building more high-density apartment buildings can lower home prices across a city. The home of Harvard is doing just that.
- I quit my Big 4 accounting career to fry chicken. I'll never go back to corporate life.
- Gen Z and millennials are creating a recession-resistant corner of the market.
Meet the tiny investment bank behind Newsmax's rip-roaring stock debut.
The BI Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.
