The market is ‘just about even’
Back in Washington on Thursday evening, President Trump reflected on the tumultuous week in markets and said things were going well because they were “almost even.”
Weekly trading isn’t entirely over, of course — and stocks opened lower on Friday — but the president assessed that the “market response has been good” to the tumultuous week of tariff threats and withdrawals.
“About equal, right?” he said.
In fact, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) is poised to end the four-day trading week lower after Tuesday’s big losses. This could be the second losing week in a row as the relief that boosted stocks on Wednesday and Thursday appears to be wearing off.
Read more: How do you protect your money during economic turmoil and stock market fluctuations?
The president’s comments as he returned from the World Economic Forum nevertheless showed how closely he continues to pay attention to the fiscal impacts of his moves.
Trump also noted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is nearing 50,000 and remains focused on positive returns on Wednesday and Thursday.
The president’s brief comments, part of a wide-ranging back-and-forth with reporters on Thursday evening, were the latest market comments in a week in which the president’s actions have moved markets more dramatically than usual.
The president brought up the markets in his speech in Davos on Wednesday, noting that “our stock market experienced its first decline yesterday” but denied this. He predicted that “the stock market will double in size in a relatively short period of time because of everything that’s going on.”
Observers quickly dismissed the possibility of a doubling down anytime soon, with Slatestone Wealth chief market strategist Kenny Polcari likening Trump’s comments to “noise” in an interview with Yahoo Finance.
“It won’t work,” he said. “It doesn’t actually do anything.”
In all, Trump weighed in on the markets in some way every day between Monday and Thursday. Open Monday And TuesdayHe touted earlier highs and once again blamed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for markets not being higher.
Even sometime on Thursday He called the Federal Reserve “disreputable.”
While Trump has paid excessive attention to markets this week, some administration officials have tried to downplay how much the ups and downs factor into Trump’s decision-making process.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent denied to Politico It was stated that Trump’s decision to step back from the 10 percent additional taxes imposed on eight European countries due to the Greenland issue was due to price fluctuations.
