Winning: Stock Market Closes at All-Time High as Quarterly Profits Beat Expectations
Chalk up another win for the Trump presidency. The U.S. stock market closed on Tuesday at a record high, marking a stunning rebound from the beginning of the year and silencing critics who preached doom and gloom when the president was elected.
The S&P 500 index closed at 2,933.68 points, which is the highest closing ever — not for the year, but for all of U.S. history.
At the same time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed near a new record, although it was half a percentage point from that high-water mark. According to Fox Business, positive earnings reports from several large companies as well as recent actions by the Trump administration can be credited for the growth.
The market “quickly recovered in the past three months as the Federal Reserve stopped raising interest rates and the Trump administration said it was making progress on a trade deal with China,” Fox Business reported.
“Coca-Cola, United Technologies, Lockheed Martin, and Procter & Gamble all reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday,” the outlet added.
One of the companies which posted higher-than-expected earnings for the past quarter was Twitter, the preferred social platform of President Trump. To nobody’s surprise, Trump used his account to make several comments about the economy on Tuesday in the midst of the stock market rally.
“In the ‘old days’ if you were President and you had a good economy, you were basically immune from criticism. Remember, ‘It’s the economy stupid,'” he posted, referencing a quote that helped Bill Clinton defeat George H. W. Bush in 1992.
“Today I have, as President, perhaps the greatest economy in history … and to the Mainstream Media, it means NOTHING. But it will!” he declared.
In the “old days” if you were President and you had a good economy, you were basically immune from criticism. Remember, “It’s the economy stupid.” Today I have, as President, perhaps the greatest economy in history…and to the Mainstream Media, it means NOTHING. But it will!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2019
It’s well known that Trump enjoys chiding his critics, and that’s exactly what he did in another tweet on Tuesday. Calling out naysayers who dismissed his candidacy and predicted disaster for his presidency, the commander in chief clearly enjoyed reminding his followers of past predictions.
“Paul Krugman, of the Fake News New York Times, has lost all credibility, as has the Times itself, with his false and highly inaccurate writings on me,” the president blasted. “He said Market would crash, Only Record Highs!”
Krugman wasn’t the only journalist who may be eating crow this week. Around a month before the 2016 election, liberal reporter and Trump critic Kurt Eichenwald similarly preached doom if Trump took the White House.
“In preparation for a completely unpredictable Trump presidency, I sold all stocks in my kids’ education accounts today,” Eichenwald posted on September 26, 2016. “I urge u to do same.”
In preparation for a completely unpredictable Trump presidency, I sold all stocks in my kids’ education accounts today. I urge u to do same.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) September 26, 2016
That move could have cost the liberal — or his children’s education accounts — thousands. A $10,000 investment in the S&P 500 on election day would be worth close to $14,000 today, an annualized return of 14 percent.
Once again, the Trump era is proving the naysayers wrong. The stock market can of course be a volatile place, but if the economy continues to power forward as the 2020 election heats up, all of the president’s challengers will be facing a very steep uphill battle.
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