Dow Rallies Because Trump Won’t Stomach a Stock Market Crash
The Dow rallied on Friday because investors are confident that no matter what happens at the G-20, Trump won't let the stock market crash. | Source: Mark Wilson / Getty Images / AFP
The Dow bounded toward a positive ending to a choppy week – and a meteoric first half of the year – as Wall Street arrived at an optimistic consensus ahead of a critical G-20 meeting: No matter what, President Trump won’t let the stock market crash.
Dow Climbs to Conclude Volatile Week
All of Wall Street’s major indices opened to moderate gains. By 12:48 pm ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had climbed 106.9 points or 0.4% to 26,633.48.
The S&P 500 added 14.59 points or 0.5% to rise to 2,939.51. All 11 primary sectors reported gains, with Financials surging 1.34% and Industrials rallying 0.95%.
The Nasdaq cleared the 8,000 mark, jumping 39.23 points or 0.49% to settle at 8,006.99.
Investors Confident Trump Won’t Trigger a Stock Market Crash
Stocks rose ahead of Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday morning.
The two leaders hope to salvage the painstaking progress their countries had made toward negotiating a new trade deal. Talks broke down in early May, and tensions grew increasingly fraught in the weeks that followed.
So why are stocks rising ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting? Investors believe that Trump cares too much about maintaining a red-hot Dow Jones Industrial Average to leave Osaka with US-China relations in a worse place than when he arrived.
According to an anonymous CNBC source, Trump has been closely monitoring the Dow , which has struggled throughout the week ahead of his high-stakes meeting with Xi Jinping.
“One official told Tausche that Trump is closely watching the stock market, which has stumbled through the week amid rampant speculation over what will happen at the summit.”
While most analysts expect a neutral or positive resolution, experts fear that an unexpected escalation in tensions could ignite a global recession. Consequently, Trump could be forced to choose between a hardline stance on tariffs and a bullish stock market.
Investors appear optimistic that he will choose the latter.
Trump: Thank ME for Massive Dow Gains
And Trump’s Twitter feed would seem to confirm that stance.
Here’s a tweet he sent earlier today on the sidelines of the G-20, in between throwing shade at Vladimir Putin for election meddling.
“The Stock Market went up massively from the day after I won the Election, all the way up to the day that I took office, because of the enthusiasm for the fact that I was going to be President. That big Stock Market increase must be credited to me. If Hillary won – a Big Crash!”
Click here for a real-time Dow Jones Industrial Average price chart.
