Investors are 'quiet-quitting' the US as Trump tumult sparks global move to diversify

U.S. President Donald Trump is back in Washington, D.C. following his appearance at the 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. Trump's Davos speech drew glowing praise from MAGA media outlets, but among Trump critics, one of the main takeaways was the growing tensions between him and longtime U.S. allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Trump vehemently attacked NATO during his speech, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, at Davos, offered scathing criticism of Trump's political and economic policies. And a long list of NATO countries rejected Trump's offer to join his new Board of Peace.

Now, according to Bloomberg News, the markets are reflecting the Trump-era divide between the United States and other major western economies.

In a Bloomberg News article published on Friday morning, January 23, reporters Phil Serafino, Matthew Burgess and Srinivasan Sivabalan describe a "quiet" move away from U.S. bonds.

Katie Koch, the CEO of fund manager TCW Group, told Bloomberg that investors "are looking to diversify away from U.S. assets, and I would kind of describe it as quiet-quitting of U.S. bonds."

Serafino, Burgess and Sivabalan report, "Emerging-market stocks, currencies and precious metals are extending a storming start to 2026 as tensions between the U.S. and Europe weigh on the dollar and give a fresh impetus to the search for alternatives. Just look at where the cash is going: Investors have poured almost $6 billion this month into BlackRock's $134 billion emerging-market stock ETF. That puts the fund, the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, on track for the biggest monthly inflow since its inception in 2012."

The Bloomberg reporters also note that "emerging market stocks" are extending "their lead over U.S. equities."

According to Serafino, Burgess and Sivabalan, "MSCI index is beating S&P 500 this month by the most since March. Conversely, one of the world's biggest funds tracking U.S. equities, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF, has bled $13.4 billion this month and is headed for the biggest outflows since March. It's not just stocks: India's holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds have fallen to a five-year low as the nation pushes to support its currency and diversify its reserves, joining a broader shift by some major economies out of the world's biggest bond market."

The reporters add, "The result: U.S. stocks, Treasuries and the dollar are underperforming global markets."

Read the full Bloomberg News article at this link (subscription required).

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