Apparently, having nothing else to comment on this morning, moments ago the president tweeted that as of this moment, the S&P just hit its latest, 40th YTD, all time high in 2017.
"RECORD HIGH FOR S & P 500!"
RECORD HIGH FOR S & P 500!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 29, 2017
Putting this declaration in context, in April 2016, Trump was feeling increasingly bearish about stocks. He told The Washington Post that they were overvalued and that the strong data that showed a healthy economy were essentially phony.
“I think we’re sitting on an economic bubble. A financial bubble,” Mr. Trump said.
By September, he was arguing that the Federal Reserve was propping up a “false economy” that is actually weak.
“The only thing that is strong is the artificial stock market,” Mr. Trump told Reuters.
Trump saved his most brutal assessment of the stock market, and the economy, for his first presidential debate with Hillary Clinton. In response to her criticism of his economic proposals, he said that the recovery was the worst since the Great Depression and that it would come crashing down the moment that interest rates rise.
“The only thing that looks good is the stock market, but if you raise interest rates even a little bit, that’s going to come crashing down,” Mr. Trump said. “We are in a big, fat, ugly bubble.
Somehow we doubt there will be similar presidential enthusiasm on the way down.