Donald Trump has gone awfully quiet about the stock market. In the early stages of his first term in office, it was one of his favourite topics of conversation on social media, and who can blame him? The benchmark S&P 500 index of US stocks climbed by 13 per cent from election day in 2016 to the end of the following February and rounded out the year with a smooth 20 per cent rise.
This time around, it is somewhat different. US markets are up by a more sedate 2.5 per cent over the same timeframe, down hard from post-election highs, while markets in Europe have ripped higher and even China is starting to shake off its on-and-off “uninvestable” label.
JPMorgan points out that in his first term in office, the president tweeted favourably about the stock market’s performance 156 times. Since 2024, his social media platform of choice has changed, but so has this topics: he has posted about it just once.