February 7, 2018

Trump Has Some Thoughts on the Stock Market That I Don’t Understand

The president doesn’t seem to know how the markets function.

Melanie Bell/ZUMA

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered his first take on the recent turmoil on Wall Street, sending out a perplexing tweet that appeared to imply that investors (maybe) or the markets themselves (maybe) were willfully ignoring the positive economic news for which he frequently takes credit.

The tweet is the president’s first public reference to the Dow’s dramatic plunge of more than 1,000 points Monday. The drop, which followed major losses over the preceding week, happened to come as Trump was in Ohio delivering a speech touting the country’s economic health. 

Trump’s thoughts on the stock market Wednesday mark a sharp break from the president’s habit of boasting about rising stock prices. The tweet drew ridicule on social media:

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