Trump attempts to take credit for stock market record highs under Biden
Former President Donald Trump leaves a press conference at 40 Wall Street on January 17, 2024 in New York City. Trump held a press conference after leaving the second day of his defamation trial involving E. Jean Carroll.
Alexi J. Rosenfeld | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump on Monday admitted that the stock market is on the rise under his successor, President Joe Biden — but Trump still tried to take credit for it.
“THIS IS THE TRUMP STOCK MARKET,” Trump wrote in an all-caps Truth Social post, “BECAUSE MY POLLS AGAINST BIDEN ARE SO GOOD THAT INVESTORS ARE PROJECTING THAT I WILL WIN, AND THAT WILL DRIVE THE MARKET UP.”
Trump cited no evidence to back up the claim that investors are buying into the stock market now in anticipation that the Republican ex-president will beat the Democratic incumbent in an election nearly 10 months away.
A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond when asked if he could provide sources to support Trump’s claim.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average swelled to 38,000 for the first time Jan. 22, marking a 1,000-point jump in just 40 days. The S&P 500 hit a record high Jan. 19, which confirmed a new bull market.
Trump in the same post wrote, “EVERYTHING ELSE IS TERRIBLE (WATCH THE MIDDLE EAST!), AND RECORD SETTING INFLATION HAS ALREADY TAKEN ITS TOLL. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
National polls tend to show a tight race between Trump and Biden, though some recent surveys, such as one conducted last week by Reuters/Ipsos, show Trump leading by a few points.
Trump, who left the White House after losing to Biden in 2020, is now the clear front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination.
Before the 2020 election, Trump said the stock market would crash if Biden took office. And earlier this month, Trump made nearly the same claim about the 2024 election.
“I think there will be a crash if I don’t win,” Trump said in a Jan. 10 town hall event on Fox News.
But the Biden-induced crash Trump predicted never arrived. And despite widespread predictions of a recession triggered by the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates to quell runaway inflation, the U.S. economy in 2023 avoided a severe economic downturn.
Now, some economic experts are considering the possibility the economy is performing so well that it may avoid even a “soft landing” scenario. The rosier outlook comes on the heels of several positive economic developments.
The latest jobs report showed a strong hiring boost and better-than-expected rise in earnings in December while the unemployment rate stayed low.
Gross domestic product, the main measure of economic growth, shot up 3.3% in the last three months of 2023, a much faster pace than expected.
The inflation rate, which has dogged Biden and dragged down his polling numbers throughout his term in office, is showing more signs of cooling, though prices remain elevated.
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