Stock Market Whiplash: Warren Buffett's Best Advice for Dealing With Volatility
Buffett says investors may be facing a great opportunity to buy stocks right now.
Stocks have been on a wild ride in April. Days when the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) moves more than one percentage point in value have become the norm, while the options-based VIX index (a measure of expected volatility) has zoomed higher. It's safe to say many investors are suffering from whiplash as stock prices quickly move up and down.
There's a clear reason for the volatility in the markets: a massive amount of uncertainty. The Trump White House started a sell-off by announcing massive and broad tariffs. It has since walked back much of those tariffs and said it will make carve-outs for specific products.
However, that stance has been off-putting to many of America's largest trade partners, leading to significant backlash. That includes many foreign investors pulling money out of U.S. securities, weakening the dollar. Economists expect inflation to spike, and some fear the U.S. could be heading toward stagflation, with poor growth in gross domestic product (GDP) and jobs.
