Investors brace for a State of the Union speech that may fuel anxiety | The State of the Union comes at a pivotal point for investors, sideswiped by market turbulence in recent months and craving stability.

>Days after the Supreme Court overturned Trump’s emergency-powers tariffs, market participants are preparing for a speech that could touch on potentially market-moving policies, from trade to affordability to Iran.

>The stock market during Trump’s second term has been volatile as investors react to the Republican’s push to overhaul U.S. trade relationships.

>While the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab has gained 13% in the 400 days since Trump’s January 2025 inauguration, the benchmark has barely increased in 2026 as Wall Street lags international stock markets and the dollar trades near 2022 lows.

>”Just as the winter storms in the Northeast have been adding to the piles of snow on the roads, I’m afraid that this speech is just going to add to the levels of anxiety in the market,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. This year, he adds, the crowded policy agenda “makes everything a little less predictable.”

>State of the Union speeches have historically had little impact on financial markets, Stovall and other market participants noted, given that they tend to serve as occasions for incumbent presidents to trumpet their achievements and lay out broad policy agendas. But they caution that Trump could do everything from laying out his case for a military campaign against Iran to arguing for more aggressive replacement tariffs than he has announced.

>There is a long list of items on the president’s policy agenda that, if Trump speaks about them, could shake up financial markets, noted Michael Rosen, chief investment officer at Angeles Investments. These range from political priorities such as Iran, where any ultimatum could send crude oil prices sharply higher, to Federal Reserve governance.