Trump tried to own market rally; he should also own its fall

Few presidents have tried to own a stockmarket boom like Donald Trump.

Tyler Berkshire, a machinist at Sheffer Corp., speaks as President Donald Trump listens during a speech on tax policy during a visit to Sheffer Corporation, Monday. Picture: AP

Few presidents have tried to own a stockmarket boom as Donald Trump has done.

“The reason our stockmarket is so successful is because of me,” he boasted in November.

The flip side of claiming full credit for the boom is that the US President will also be given full credit for Wall Street’s correction — or worse if stocks keep going south.

As the Dow recorded its largest points fall in history yesterday, the White House quickly changed tack.

“The President’s focus is on our long-term economic fundamentals, which remain exceptionally strong, with strengthening US economic growth, historically low unemployment and increasing wages for American workers,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

“The President’s tax cuts and regulatory reforms will further ­enhance the US economy and continue to increase prosperity for the American people.”

In truth, presidents can influence the stockmarket with their words and their policies, but their actions alone do not create the broader boom-and-bust cycles of Wall Street.

That is why Mr Trump’s predecessors were much more cautious in trying to claim credit from the fortunes of the Dow.

Mr Trump’s pro-business agenda and tax-reform laws have helped boost confidence on Wall Street, but the Dow also broke records more than 100 times under his predecessor, Barack Obama.

Since Mr Trump entered the Oval Office, the Dow has hit ­numerous new highs and he claimed responsibility as if he were the sole architect of the bull ­market.

“The stockmarket has smashed one record after another, gaining $US8 trillion ($10 trillion) in value,” he said in his State of the Union address last week.

Mr Trump has understandably sought to take credit for the economy, knowing he would be blamed if it started to sink.

It is quite another thing to claim Wall Street’s rise as proof that investors believe he is making America great again.

Since he became President, Mr Trump has tweeted more than 50 times about the rise of the Dow.

As former Obama press secretary Jay Carney tweeted yesterday: “Good time to recall that in the previous administration, we NEVER boasted about the stockmarket — even though the Dow more than doubled on Obama’s watch — because we knew two things: 1) the stockmarket is not the economy; and 2) if you claim the rise, you own the fall.”

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia