The Trump post-election glow and optimism feels like it's evaporating. Nothing has really changed except maybe the tariffs to come.
I'll avoid commenting on politics and just say it's the old "buy the rumour, sell the fact" scenario there.
US Presidential elections have the particular attribute of the outcome being effectively certain and widely known quite some time before it happens. The election was held on 5 November 2024, the new President inaugurated on 21 January 2025.
So that's 2.5 months during which, barring any unforeseen event such as death, the outcome was certain and known to practically everyone. There aren't many situations where you get that sort of advance notice of a certain outcome and it's plenty of time for all but the largest institutions to enter or exit whatever financial positions.
Only comment I'll make on specific policies is in regards to natural gas. A few points here all of which in my view are conducive to higher prices:
About 7.5% of "US" natural gas production is actually imported from Canada by pipeline. Applying a tariff to that will make it more expensive.
Plans to increase LNG exports from the US are, in the US domestic market context, not a new source of supply as many seem to be incorrectly thinking. Rather, it is an increase in demand.
The idea of increasing manufacturing will in practice require more natural gas for use both as an energy source and as chemical feedstock (natural gas being the raw material for various chemicals etc).
AI, manufacturing and economic growth in general require electricity. For not all but for much of the US the marginal source of that is in practice natural gas, since other sources are already fully utilised and won't be rapidly expanded or duplicated.
From there it's basic economics. More demand and no real change in supply but some of that supply costs more. Price should rise.
With the added "gotcha" that a large portion of the US' gas production is a by-product of oil production. That being so, a rise in the gas price has only a weak linkage to any effort to produce more of it, the oil price being a much greater influence.