At the stock exchange on Thursday, Trump kept his comments focused on other parts of his agenda more palatable to markets: his promises to lower taxes from 21% to 15% for businesses manufacturing in America, cut regulation and speed up government approvals.
“A nuclear power plant – I would say a week would be enough time. What do you think?” he said, to laughter.
Similar policies, which Zandi said would be good for the corporate bottom line, if not necessarily the economy, boosted share prices significantly during Trump’s first term.
He cited those gains repeatedly as a sign of his administration’s success, especially at the start.
But the market retreated during trade wars with allies and with China – then nose-dived at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, before rapidly recovering.
Ultimately, the S&P 500 gained more than 67% on his watch – a record bested by presidents Bill Clinton in the 1990s and Barack Obama during his first four years.
Under Biden, the index has risen 59% so far. Whether Trump can repeat that performance is something he has declined to predict.
Stocks closed lower on Thursday with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.5% in one day’s trade.
Asked at the stock exchange what investors should be buying in anticipation of the future, Trump, somewhat uncharacteristically, demurred.
“I don’t want to get into a situation where they do and we have a dip or something”, he said, then added, “Long term, this is going to be a country like no other.”
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