Stocks on Wednesday climbed back from their epic Christmas Eve plunge as all three indexes posted big gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average roared more than 1,050 points in late afternoon — the biggest point gain in history — as stocks snapped a four-day losing streak that had placed the 10-year bull market on the edge of death on Monday.
Wednesday’s preliminary 4.96 percent climb in the S&P is the best Dec. 26 on record, replacing the 3.06 percent gain record set in 1973.
It was the largest daily percentage gain for market since March 2009.
In that the markets prefer stability versus uncertainty, many noted the rebound occurred on a day Donald Trump had not tweeted.
Trump stops tweeting for twenty hours, and the stock market skyrockets. Enough said.
We’ve reached the point where the stock market is only up today because the President of the United States hasn’t opened his mouth.— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) December 26, 2018
The U.S. stock market plummeted 400 points on opening this morning after it was revealed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called the CEO’s of the nation’s largest bank to make sure they had enough cash in their vaults.
The Dow fell more than 400 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid deeper into bear territory.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had called the leaders of the nation’s six largest banks and later issued a statement declaring that the institutions had ample credit to extend to U.S. businesses and households. Analysts said the outreach and statement could backfire.
Stocks are on pace for their worst December since the Great Depression. On Friday, the Dow ended its worst week since 2008. The Nasdaq is in a bear market.
Remember Stocks have been Plummeting for three straight months but no one cared until now. Marry Christmas to all the rich people that will be poor next year. pic.twitter.com/sgnZtzIqTv
Capping off a Thanksgiving weekend which began with Donald Trump telling reporters he was most thankful for his family and himself, this morning he took to Twitter to thank himself again (in the third person, no less) for falling oil prices.
So great that oil prices are falling (thank you President T). Add that, which is like a big Tax Cut, to our other good Economic news. Inflation down (are you listening Fed)!
Trump omitted the fact that gas prices were much lower during President Obama’s last Thanksgiving in office.
FACT CHECK: On Thanksgiving weekend 2016 under President Obama gas prices were on average $2.14 a gallon per AAA. Today under Trump gas prices are on average $2.91 a gallon. Thats over a 35% increase in two years under Trump’s failed leadership.
During his presidency, President T has spent 1 out of every 3 days on a property he owns and 1 out of every 4 days playing golf on a course he owns. Each day he is away from the WH, it costs American taxpayers $1M to cover secret service and travel. #sundaymorning#sundaythoughtspic.twitter.com/3aMJBqTa3H
The 30-Stock Dow fell 450 points after dropping nearly 400 points in the previous session. Earlier in the day, the Dow was down nearly 600 points. The S&P 500 dropped 1.3 percent, but also traded well off its session lows. The Dow and S&P 500 were up 1.2 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, for 2018 entering Tuesday.
Target fell 10.4 percent after reporting weaker-than-expected earnings for the previous quarter. The company also posted lighter-than-forecast same-store sales, which is a key metric for retailers.
Tuesday’s decline came a day after members of the popular “FAANG” trade —Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet — all closed in a bear market, down more than 20 percent from their 52-week highs. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped 1.7 percent and 3 percent, respectively, on Monday while the Dow fell 1.6 percent.
Experts point to Donald Trump’s trade wars, a slowdown in the global economy and the recent cloud that’s hung over Big Tech stocks for the decline.
That said, most say the actual fundamentals of these stocks are solid, but that doesn’t seem to matter to investors today.
Stocks are opening sharply lower on Wall Street as a rout in major technology companies continued.
The DOW dropped by 800 points today. Cars are more expensive because steel is more expensive. Ford Motors are laying off 24,000 employees due to Trump’s trade. Gas is $3 average nationally. But Trump is making America Great Again, amirite?
Mr. Trump appeared eager to defend his decision to levy sweeping tariffs on all imports of those metals, issuing a series of morning tweets explaining the need for tariffs. “Our steel industry is in bad shape. IF YOU DON’T HAVE STEEL, YOU DON’T HAVE A COUNTRY!” he said in one tweet.
Markets fell in response to Mr. Trump’s announcement on Thursday that he would impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, effectively placing a tax on every foreign shipment of those metals into the United States. Mr. Trump, at a hastily arranged meeting with industry executives on Thursday, said he would formally sign the trade measures next week and promised they would be in effect “for a long period of time.”
On Friday, he wrote that the measures would help to reduce the trade deficit, which is the gap between what the United States exports to other countries and what it imports. Mr. Trump has long lambasted the trade deficit as a sign of United States weakness.
“When a country Taxes our products coming in at, say, 50%, and we Tax the same product coming into our country at ZERO, not fair or smart. We will soon be starting RECIPROCAL TAXES so that we will charge the same thing as they charge us. $800 Billion Trade Deficit-have no choice,” he wrote.
The stock market did not enjoy the tariff announcement.
Stocks fell on Thursday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. will implement tariffs on steel and aluminum imports next week. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 431 points lower after rising more than 150 points earlier in the day. The 30-stock index fell as much as 586 points.
The S&P 500 declined 1.4 percent — erasing its year-to-date gains — with industrials as the worst-performing sector. It also briefly broke below its 100-day moving average, a key technical level. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.3 percent and dipped below its 50-day moving average.
When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!
And speaking of the stock market, in related news longtime Trump confidant (and billionaire investor) Carl Icahn just happenedto sell $31.3 million of stock in a company heavily dependent on steel just seven days before Trump’s announcement of 25% tariffs on foreign steel.
Now, if I were cynical (Who? Me?) my mind might wander into the insidious world of insider trading…?
Icahn sold off nearly 1 million shares of Manitowoc Company which is “a leading global manufacturer of cranes and lifting solutions” and, therefore, heavily dependent on steel to make its products.
Industries ranging from autos to oil to construction equipment all saw declines in their stock in the aftermath of the announcement.
The stock market today had its second biggest point drop ever closing down over 1,000 points. The biggest drop before that was just a few days ago. This is the trump economy
Stock market plunged another thousand points today. If this keeps up, Donald Trump will begin ranting about “Little Dow Jones” and threatening to have him deported.
I don’t think the President has all power over the stock market, but he has SOME. Now that we’ve had the two largest point drops ever in the history of the stock market within a week, why is it again we’re trusting a guy who’s gone bankrupt 6 times to lead our country?
U.S. stocks plunged down nearly 700 points by midday today, a loss of almost 2.5%. It’s the fourth ugly day in global markets. President Trump has hailed a booming stock market as a measure of his presidential success. Now what will he say about this?
Donald Trump took to Twitter on the last day of 2017 to boast yet again about the economy:
If the Dems (Crooked Hillary) got elected, your stocks would be down 50% from values on Election Day. Now they have a great future – and just beginning!
Why would smart voters want to put Democrats in Congress in 2018 Election when their policies will totally kill the great wealth created during the months since the Election. People are much better off now not to mention ISIS, VA, Judges, Strong Border, 2nd A, Tax Cuts & more?
If the Dems (Crooked Hillary) got elected, your stocks would be down 50% from values on Election Day. Now they have a great future – and just beginning! https://t.co/9TzSC8F8vY
Why would smart voters want to put Democrats in Congress in 2018 Election when their policies will totally kill the great wealth created during the months since the Election. People are much better off now not to mention ISIS, VA, Judges, Strong Border, 2nd A, Tax Cuts & more?
A few facts are missing from the Trumpster’s perspective here.
Most importantly the fact that he inherited an already healthy economy with a 4.7% unemployment rate and a stock market that had more than doubled.
And then the smart kids chimed in:
2017 saw the fewest number of jobs created in 6 years. 3.5 million more are uninsured. Premiums are up. And Trump has taken only one step: a $1.5 trillion tax cut, mostly for the rich and corporations. I’ll take that fight. https://t.co/i4PKMX8KcE
I’ll attach the stock market again for about the 200’redthth time. What has the trend been for 8 years? A Chimpanzee could sit where you are and look good. If the Dems were elected, we wouldn’t be doing endless investigations and giving away cash to rich people and corporations. pic.twitter.com/v2lfUiJrAu
1) B/c you’re a liar, none of that is true; 2) you’re a racist, emboldened white supremacists; 3) you’re a sexual predator; 4) you’ve attacks rights of women, LGBT, minorities; 5) climate change; 6) many more reasons, GOP does nothing. That’s why smartvoters won’t vote GOP. https://t.co/DqagbSydMt
• Celebrating #FurryFriday at The Randy Report #grrr
• The U.S. economy added 209K jobs in July, bringing the unemployment rate to 4.3%.
• The CEO of former escort site RentBoy.com sentenced to six months in prison for promoting prostitution and conspiracy to commit money laundering. It’s notable that the escorts on the site signed up voluntarily. There seems to be hypocrisy at play here in that there are dozens of straight escort sites in operation in NYC that have gone unpunished.
• Donald Trump is taking credit for the stock market’s record highs, but just last fall he said stock values were “sitting on an economic bubble; a financial bubble.” Funny how real it all gets when he’s president.
• The Massachusetts woman convicted in June of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself was sentenced to 2 and 1/2 years in prison. In a stream of several texts, then-17-year-old Carter encouraged 18-year-old boyfriend Conrad Roy III to follow through on thoughts of killing himself. #evil
• Kacy Hill, signed to Kanye West’s GOOD Music label, was named “MTV PUSH: Artist To Watch,” and I’m inclined to believe. Check out Kacy’s pop-y, EDM-driven “Hard To Love” below. More info on the rapturous red-head at her official site here.
