Trump - December's stock market fall a 'glitch'

[webfact]

Trump - December's stock market fall a 'glitch'

By Jeff Mason and Lisa Lambert

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony for H.R. 2, the "Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018" in Washington, U.S., December 20, 2018. REUTERS/Jim Young

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday played down the stock market's drop at the end of 2018, calling it a "glitch" and saying the market will again go up once various trade deals are settled.

 

Trump, who has repeatedly posted messages on Twitter extolling stock market gains, said the Federal Reserve should help keep markets stable.

 

"We had a little glitch in the stock market last month," he told reporters at a Cabinet meeting, adding that it had risen since he was elected at the end of 2016. "And it's going to go up once we settle trade issues, and once a couple of other things happen."

 

"We need a little help from the Fed ... but we're going to be good. The trade deals are kicking in," he added later.

 

Trump in the final months of 2018 repeatedly attacked the Fed, blaming market volatility on the central bank's steady and gradual interest-rate increases and calling it the "only problem" for the U.S. economy.

 

The Fed has a dual mandate to promote maximum employment and stable prices.

 

U.S. stocks in 2018 had their worst year in a decade, heavily driven by steep price drops in the last quarter.

 

On Wednesday, the first trading day of 2019, stocks stumbled on investor fears over a global economic slowdown.[.N] Fears were fuelled by reports that factory activity weakened across much of Europe and Asia in December due to the U.S.-China trade war.

 

Trump at the cabinet meeting sounded upbeat about negotiations to reach a trade deal with China, saying they "are coming along very well, we'll see what happens."

 

The United States and China are about one month into a 90-day pause in implementing higher U.S. tariffs and other measures in a trade war that dominated much of 2018, as they work on reaching a deal.

 

In addition, the U.S. trade deal with Canada and Mexico awaits congressional approval.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Lisa Lambert; Editing by James Dalgleish and Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-03

[pegman]

If the world gets lucky Trump will be seen a as glitch of history.

[Credo]

Everything is somebody else's fault.   

 

His trade deals will never go through.   He will extol gains in trade, but they will pale in comparison to what has been lost.   The TTP is in effect and Canada, Australia and New Zealand are picking up major markets in farm produce, not only in China but also countries like Japan.

 

He needs to go.

[Skallywag]

I tell everyone I meet I'm from Canada since the election in November 2016 - 555

[neeray]

8 minutes ago, pegman said:

If the world gets lucky Trump will be seen a as glitch of history.

Could not have said it better myself.

[metisdead]

A post containing an offensive reference to Trump has been removed. If you do want your post to be removed, spell people's names correctly.

[Boon Mee]

If calling the Fed Chairman who irrationally hiked the interest rates a 'glitch', then Trump is correct once again. 

[Tug]

The only glitch is Donald’s big mouth.shut up Donald adults are trying to keep the economy going your unhinged big mouth isent helping neither are your tariffs btw 

[Scott]

Troll posts and replies removed.  

 

[janclaes47]

7 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

You understand that for every seller and every buyer there is an opposite trader.

So essentially your gain is others' losses.

So if we have to believe you, in a bull market there are a lot of losers?

 

8 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

A slowing economy will not finance Trump's 2017 trillion dollar debt

2017 Trillion Dollar debt. Really?

[samran]

He will take credit for anything...

[bendejo]

4 hours ago, Credo said:

Everything is somebody else's fault. 

That's my ex-wife.

If things worked out it was because she was brilliant, if it failed it's because YOU eff'd up.

 

Worst year for the market since 2008, which was before Obama became president: is that what making America great again entails?

 

 

[Pib]

Nothing is ever Donald's fault (according to Donald) as he's the greatest (according to Donald).

[RotBenz8888]

Trump lucky amulets for the Wall street guys, a sure winner.

[zydeco]

3 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

If calling the Fed Chairman who irrationally hiked the interest rates a 'glitch', then Trump is correct once again. 

How much more free money should the Fed hand out to corporations so they can do stock buybacks?  We have a $22 trillion dollar debt and full employment. Bernanke promised low rates/QE would end once unemployment fell below six percent. But it went on for a decade. Low interest rates punish savers and force people into the markets to get a good enough return to live on in retirement. QE borrowed tens of trillions from the future to subsidize banks and stocks with fake money. The normal interest rate should be around 5 percent. If the stock market can't handle 2.5 percent without crashing, that tells you something is seriously wrong with the economy. Lower rates, print money by having the Fed push a button to buy more Treasuries, and pretty soon you will have Weimar or Venezuela style inflation. Trump is treating the market like it's the Nielsen ratings for his presidency. And he apparently is willing to cave on China and anything else in order to boost his "ratings." It is supremely foolish and destructive.

[pennine]

1 hour ago, bendejo said:

That's my ex-wife.

If things worked out it was because she was brilliant, if it failed it's because YOU eff'd up.

 

Worst year for the market since 2008, which was before Obama became president: is that what making America great again entails?

 

 

Just like an ex boss of mine. If we had a good month, it was a "windfall". If we had a bad month, it was my fault.

[JulesMad]

5 hours ago, Credo said:

Everything is somebody else's fault.   

It looks as if he has some Thai blood as well ????

[puck2]

3 hours ago, samran said:

He will take credit for anything...

 

This depicts „tremendously“ the knowledge, the incompetence, the intelligence and the character of the biggest moron who has ever been living in the White House.

 

He makes the USA going down, down, down … as seen by nearly all countries in the world. After him, the slogan is correct: Make America great AGAIN. Nowadays, it's BAD (Bring America Down), not MAGA.

[billd766]

5 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

If calling the Fed Chairman who irrationally hiked the interest rates a 'glitch', then Trump is correct once again. 

Just to satisfy my curiosity could you tell me what qualifications you have in the financial and banking sectors?

 

I realise that you truly believe that Trump is a world class genius and can do no wrong in your eyes, but how can a man who has several bankruptcies and failed businesses behind him, think he is smarter than the chairman of the Fed who has decades of banking experience behind him?

 

I have no experience of banking other than being a customer but I would far rather trust a banker on banking business than I would Trump.

[pegman]

3 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Just to satisfy my curiosity could you tell me what qualifications you have in the financial and banking sectors?

 

I realise that you truly believe that Trump is a world class genius and can do no wrong in your eyes, but how can a man who has several bankruptcies and failed businesses behind him, think he is smarter than the chairman of the Fed who has decades of banking experience behind him?

 

I have no experience of banking other than being a customer but I would far rather trust a banker on banking business than I would Trump.

Yeah, it's something like a draft dodger saying he knows more than all the generals on military matters, 555!

[Pib]

6 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

If calling the Fed Chairman who irrationally hiked the interest rates a 'glitch', then Trump is correct once again. 

 

9 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Just to satisfy my curiosity could you tell me what qualifications you have in the financial and banking sectors?

 

I realise that you truly believe that Trump is a world class genius and can do no wrong in your eyes, but how can a man who has several bankruptcies and failed businesses behind him, think he is smarter than the chairman of the Fed who has decades of banking experience behind him?

 

I have no experience of banking other than being a customer but I would far rather trust a banker on banking business than I would Trump.

 

 

All Trump supporters got an honorary degree in business with a major in bankruptcy from Trump University.

 

[bristolboy]

8 minutes ago, pegman said:

Yeah, it's something like a draft dodger saying he knows more than all the generals on military matters, 555!

Clearly Boon Mee's comments are, as usual, based on blind partisanship and have no useful content to back up the claims. That said, I believe that this is one time that Trump has a point. NS it's not just me who believes this but lots of serious economists. (And when I say serious economists, I'm not referring to the sellouts who called for austerity during the Great Recession and now rail against it when the economy is strong.) Anyway Trump's point is still kind of misguided because anyone serious about economics knows that the stock market is not a meaningful way to gauge the health of the economy.

The Fed is supposed to raise rates when serious inflation is in the offing. One of the indicators of that is when workers' wages are rising much faster than inflation. In fact most workers' wages are only slightly ahead of inflation. In fact serious inflation doesn't seem to be in the offing. What raising interests rates is intended to do is to slow economic growth and with it the demand for workers. In effect, stifling wage raises.

[bristolboy]

2 hours ago, zydeco said:

How much more free money should the Fed hand out to corporations so they can do stock buybacks?  We have a $22 trillion dollar debt and full employment. Bernanke promised low rates/QE would end once unemployment fell below six percent. But it went on for a decade. Low interest rates punish savers and force people into the markets to get a good enough return to live on in retirement. QE borrowed tens of trillions from the future to subsidize banks and stocks with fake money. The normal interest rate should be around 5 percent. If the stock market can't handle 2.5 percent without crashing, that tells you something is seriously wrong with the economy. Lower rates, print money by having the Fed push a button to buy more Treasuries, and pretty soon you will have Weimar or Venezuela style inflation. Trump is treating the market like it's the Nielsen ratings for his presidency. And he apparently is willing to cave on China and anything else in order to boost his "ratings." It is supremely foolish and destructive.

While your point about tax cuts financing stock buybacks is a good one, Bernanke promised to end QE. He didn't promise to raise interest rates. And why should interest rates be raised when the US can sell its bonds for a very low rate? The higher the rate, the bigger the increase of the deficit.

I remember when various right wing economists were warning about the imminent threat of hyperinflation posed by QE. While all those crazy Keynesians asserted that wasn't going to happen. How did that pan out?

[zydeco]

4 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

How did that pan out?

With a $22 trillion debt.

[zydeco]

5 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

I remember when various right wing economists were warning about the imminent threat of hyperinflation posed by QE.

BTW, QE has ended and QT has been under way for a while. And that is what is going to sink things. The "recovery" from the last debt bubble in 2008 has been built on another debt bubble.  The "everything bubble." There is no getting away from the fact that for the last 10 years the Fed has pulled tens of trillions of dollars from the future. And the future is now here and it wants its money back.

[bendejo]

2 hours ago, pennine said:

Just like an ex boss of mine. If we had a good month, it was a "windfall". If we had a bad month, it was my fault.

I think they teach them that in business school.  On the first day.

 

 

[Pib]

Donald's first year in office (2017) the stock market was riding on a foundation, budget, and policy created during the Obama administration....all went well for 2017....stock market continued to climb.

 

Now Donald's second year in office (2018) was totally his own...had his own foundation, budget, and policy created.  We now see how that worked out for the stock market.

 

 

 

[bristolboy]

8 minutes ago, zydeco said:

BTW, QE has ended and QT has been under way for a while. And that is what is going to sink things. The "recovery" from the last debt bubble in 2008 has been built on another debt bubble.  The "everything bubble." There is no getting away from the fact that for the last 10 years the Fed has pulled tens of trillions of dollars from the future. And the future is now here and it wants its money back.

Well, if you believe that, then you should be in favor of low interest rates since they lessen the rate of increase  debt.

And as we learned from the example of the EU, austerity does nothing to lessen debt. Remember "expansionary austerity"? How did that work out? It just increases suffering pointlessly and slows recovery.

[zydeco]

3 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Well, if you believe that, then you should be in favor of low interest rates since they lessen the rate of increase  debt.

And as we learned from the example of the EU, austerity does nothing to lessen debt. Remember "expansionary austerity"? How did that work out? It just increases suffering pointlessly and slows recovery.

If you are telling me there are things the US cannot use more austerity towards, just let me suggest one: the $US 7 trillion spent on the Middle East the past 18 years.

[bristolboy]

2 minutes ago, zydeco said:

If you are telling me there are things the US cannot use more austerity towards, just let me suggest one: the $US 7 trillion spent on the Middle East the past 18 years.

You seem to be jumping around a lot. I thought we were discussing economic policy and the apparent contradictions in your view of it.