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Is Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) the Best Performing Long Term Stock So Far in 2025?

Sheryar Siddiq

Fri, Apr 18, 2025, 8:39 AM 5 min read

Consumer morale fell more drastically than expected in April, owing to a surge in inflation expectations to unprecedented levels. According to the central bank’s monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations, respondents expect inflation to reach 3.6% within a year, up 0.5 percentage points from February and the highest since October 2023. This increase in inflation fears was coupled by increased labor market unease, the assessed possibility that unemployment will rise in a year, surging to 44%. This represents a 4.6-point increase and the highest reading since the COVID-19 outbreak began in April 2020.

The survey results come amid growing concern over the possible economic impact of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs. Many on Wall Street say they would fuel inflation and stifle economic development, while some analysts even fear that the United States may enter a recession within the next year. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve officials have expressed differing views, with some worrying that adjustments in consumer expectations might have immediate economic effects if they impact behavior.

Conversely, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller remarked on April 14 that he anticipates the effects of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on prices to be “transitory,” using a word that landed the central bank in hot water during the previous bout of inflation. Waller believes the market could swing two different ways, stating that greater and longer-lasting tariffs would cause a larger inflation jump initially to 4% to 5%, which would later recede as the economy slowed and unemployment soared. In the other, smaller-tariff scenario, inflation would approach approximately 3% and then fall off. Waller added the following:

“Yes, I am saying that I expect that elevated inflation would be temporary, and ‘temporary’ is another word for transitory. Despite the fact that the last surge of inflation beginning in 2021 lasted longer than I and other policymakers initially expected, my best judgment is that higher inflation from tariffs will be temporary.”

However, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari has other concerns. The 10-year Treasury yield rose in the second week of this month after Trump stated his plans to impose a 10% tax on all U.S. trade partners and threatened to apply tougher, selective levies before backing down on April 9. At the same time, the dollar has fallen more than 3% compared to a basket of global currencies, perhaps signaling a shift away from safe-haven US assets. This is what Kashkari had to say:

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