One reason CEOs are so keen on becoming Donald Trump's new besties: The incoming president could make their profits go poof.

Why it matters: The president-elect's proposed tariffs are so high they could entirely wipe out the annual profits of some large companies, per an analysis from consulting firm PWC.

• Of course, companies won't sit idly by and let that happen — those costs will likely be passed along to American consumers.

Catch up fast: Trump said last month on Truth Social he'd put 25% tariffs on all goods coming from Canada and Mexico — the two largest U.S. trading partners — as soon as he takes office.

• That's on top of tariffs of 60% or more on goods from China, and 10% to 20% tariffs on imports from the rest of the world.

Zoom out: These measures could increase the amount of money businesses pay in tariffs by more than 400%, per a data analysis that PWC conducts for clients using company-specific data from U.S. Customs.

Zoom in: The modeling looks at worst-case scenarios. When Trump says all goods will be tariffed, companies take that seriously, says Chris Desmond, a PWC principal for customs and international trade.

Behind the scenes, the Trump team is telling corporate consultants that there's no budging the president-elect on his tariff stance, the Wall Street Journal reported.

PWC's model finds tariff increases are often larger than an importer's annual profits across a range of industries including autos, retailers, communications equipment-makers, and companies that import fruits and vegetables.

• That's leading companies to question if they can change their supply chain strategies to adjust or pass costs to consumers, Desmond says.

Reality check: It's certainly possible some firms that import goods may absorb these costs and accept lower profit margins, but many have already said they will pass the increased costs through.

Flashback: Not only do companies pass through tariff costs to consumers, sometimes they take the opportunity to raise prices on other goods, too.

• After the 2018 tariffs on washing machines hit, the price of dryers — which weren't tariffed — went up too, per research published in the American Economic Review in 2020.

The bottom line: Lots of uncertainty out there, but it's a safe bet that companies won't just sit by and let their profits disappear.

Americans under the age of 40 are richer than ever — but they still feel "an increasing sense of economic fragility," per detailed new research released by the Treasury Department this morning.

Why it matters: Disaffection and despair, especially among young men, are on the rise, and economic factors play an important role in that phenomenon.

What they're saying: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke in October about "a sense of alienation" and "very deep dysfunction in people's lives" — as evidenced by the "deaths of despair" documented by Anne Case and Angus Deaton.

The big picture: We've known for a while that average wealth for younger Americans has been hitting record highs. More importantly, median wealth has been showing the same thing.

• For Americans between 25 and 39, median wealth hit $80,500 in 2022, Treasury calculates — up from just $23,750 in 2010. And that's in 2023 dollars, after accounting for inflation.

The other side: While wealth was turbocharged by the stimulus checks and roaring bull market following the 2020 pandemic, careers were not.

• Mentorship and on-the-job learning are much harder when working remotely, while demographic changes mean that younger workers are increasingly competing with their more experienced elders for desirable jobs.
• Meanwhile, costs have been rising faster than young Americans' incomes, not only for education but also for child care, health care, and — most pressingly — shelter.

By the numbers: Treasury notes that 61% of men haven't graduated from college — and their earnings have been declining, in real terms, for 30 years.

• To add insult to injury, some 42% of Americans with student loans between ages 25 and 39 don't even have a bachelor's degree.
• It's not just college, either. The proportion of men between 25 and 39 with any job has been falling steadily for more than 30 years. It was almost 95% in 1990. It's now been below 90% for over a decade.

The bottom line: The report points to "expanded education, less discriminatory workplaces, cheaper goods, and more household wealth" as examples of how the lives of young Americans are improving.

• The other side of the ledger, however, seems to be dominating much of the generational psyche — as is evidenced by the enormous sums of money they say they need to be successful.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is on its longest losing streak in 46 years — which sounds important but in the scheme of things really isn't at all.

Why it matters: Long losing streaks for well-known markets sound bad, but in this case it's mostly a technical matter that doesn't really reflect what's going on in stocks.

• Short-term slumps, even if they last days or weeks, tend to distract from the fact that over time, stocks inevitably end up higher.

Catch up quick: The Dow has now fallen nine straight trading days, its worst streak since 1978.

• Of the 30 stocks that go into the average, UnitedHealth Group has the second-largest weighting. It also happens to be down more than 20% since one of its executives was shot in the back Dec. 4.
• Nvidia, which recently joined the Dow, is also down 10% in recent days, a small pullback in the context of more than doubling this year.

Zoom out: The S&P 500, a much broader and more important index, hasn't had the same losing streak and is down just 0.6% over the same period.

• Stocks remain on a tear in 2024. The S&P is up more than 25% this year and the Dow is still up more than 15%.

💭 Felix's thought bubble: Friends don't let friends look at the Dow.