President Donald Trump wasted no time getting to work post-inauguration. Between January 20 and March 18, he signed a total of 93 executive orders. Many of these focus on his administration's aggressive cost-cutting measures under the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), while others impact energy, healthcare, the rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and, of course, tariffs.
While not all of these are relevant to markets, some certainly are – and investors clearly agree. Just take a look at the Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, which surged nearly 20% in February. And in mid-March, the VIX hit its highest level since the August stock market crash.
