Trump is reportedly 'glued' to market fluctuations - and regularly expresses concern over whether his trade policies are responsible
Donald Trump is reportedly “glued” to the stock market and regularly consults advisors about whether his trade policies are responsible for its fluctuations, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Trump, according to the Journal, “often keep the TV tuned to business channels and watch the Dow’s minute-to-minute movements.” Per the Journal:
He would get excited about triple-digit gains in a single day and question aides about how certain actions might influence the market, people familiar with the matter said.
The report describes Trump’s anxious outreach to advisers, noting the president is “looking for validation his talks with China were not driving” the market’s volatility. According to the report, Trump considers the Dow Jones Industrial Average as valuable marker for his job performance as his polling numbers.
Even as Trump privately expresses concern over market fluctuations, he publicly signals a willingness to put his thumb on the market. On Tuesday he called himself the “Tariff Man” as he signaled an intent to take on China in its ongoing trade dispute with the U.S. The following day, Trump boasted about his “hopefully historic meeting” with President Xi Jinping of China even as investors doubted the president’s approach.
As the Journal reports:
The administration’s decision to announce success in his weekend meeting with China, absent any concrete steps, was widely acknowledged by Wall Street. Analysts at Morgan Stanley declared it indicative of the administration’s “markets-sensitive” approach to policy-making.
Nomura Securities said that it was yet “another indication that President Trump is sensitive to the market and economic disruptions that his trade policies can generate. That sensitivity may suggest that there are limits on how he will push those policies.”
