We’re not going to pretend there’s one silver bullet for protecting your portfolio from the S&P 500’s worst day since 2022. But analysts have some ideas about what corners of the market are safest during the tariff storm.
In fact, there are a handful of stocks that the pros think could actually benefit from tariffs. For instance, UBS analyst Jay Sole pointed to department stores TJX and Burlington as two stocks to buy. “Companies may have to either cancel orders or clear excess inventory in some other way. Off-price retailers like TJX and BURL typically outperform in times of dislocation,” he wrote in a note today.
He isn’t the only one who thinks TJX is a buy: Citi analyst Paul Lejuez also upgraded the stock from neutral to buy, along with Ross Stores, another discount big box retailer.
Another idea? Abandon the US altogether.
Charles Schwab Chief Global Investment Strategist Jeffrey Kleintop argued that international markets could be better positioned than domestic counterparts, despite the fact that tariffs could hurt them, too. This isn’t a new idea—European markets have already outpaced the S&P 500 in the first quarter of the year—but international investing is gaining popularity as investors parse through the effects of tariffs.
“In Europe, we favor beneficiaries of increased fiscal spending and small- to mid-cap stocks. And in Asia, we like Taiwan for its structural growth market and recommend defensive strategies centered on mainland China's state-owned enterprises,” echoed UBS’s CIO Solita Marcelli.
Any optimism, anyone?
The only thing keeping analysts from declaring that all hell has officially broken loose is that most of them are seeing today’s tariff figures as a starting point for negotiations—something that the White House hasn’t confirmed.
“While uncertainty is currently high, we also believe that, at the margin, incremental news flow could become more supportive as we approach the second half of the year,” wrote Marcelli. “Now that the tariffs have been announced, negotiations to soften them can begin. Tariff revenue could be used to offset the cost of extending tax cuts. And we would expect the Fed to respond to weakening growth with interest rate cuts.”
The bottom line: Equities have survived worse crashes, and while we’re likely wading into a period where there’s going to be more questions than answers for a while, staying invested is ultimately the smart move in the long run.—LB
Making sense of market moves
Stay up to date on the latest market news with daily analysis of the investing landscape, served up Brew-style.