Zachary Karabell is an author and investor and writes “The Edgy Optimist” on Substack.
The first two months of the year have seen static stock markets following anemic economic growth in the final months of 2025. But in the past few weeks, the dominant theme in finance land has been fear. That isn’t unusual. Wall Street often oscillates between hope and fear, euphoria and despair. What’s new is the source of that fear.