Two chief executives of Wall Street institutions made the case on day one of The Australian Financial Review Business Summit that investors have a reason for cautious optimism if they look beyond the chaos of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Blackstone chief executive Stephen Schwarzman and Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon agreed that short-term volatility is inevitable due to the flurry of executive orders and tariff threats issued by the Trump administration in its first 44 days. Yet, Schwarzman and Solomon also agreed that the US president’s focus on reducing the size and increasing the efficiency of government promises to be positive for the business environment and economic growth in the US.