After more than a year of staff turmoil in the White House, stock markets have not merely survived but thrived. They have also shown an ability to rebound swiftly after the sharpest sell-offs. That appears to be happening again, with an instant sharp sell-off provoked by the resignation of presidential economic adviser Gary Cohn on Tuesday night followed by a less negative response once markets opened yesterday.
But even bearing these cautions in mind, there is reason to believe that Mr Cohn’s resignation will be different. He was regarded not only as Wall Street’s representative in a White House that included virulently populist elements, but also as an indispensable adult in the room. The same cannot be said of any of the other names on the long list of White House staff to leave over the past year.
The market’s negative instant reaction — with the main indices selling off about 1.5 per cent in thin after-hours trading, and then starting poorly yesterday — therefore speaks volumes about Wall Street’s underlying confidence in the president’s judgment when left to his own devices. The S&P remains above its level when Mr Trump unveiled the tariffs a week ago.