President Donald Trump couldn’t bear a few days of bad headlines.
On Wednesday morning, his 101st day in office, Trump blamed Biden for the volatile market. “This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Not three full days later, Wall Street is soaring again.
On Friday, the S&P 500 erased its losses since Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs sent global markets into a tailspin. The market index is now nearing its best stretch since November 2004, so long ago that Trump was still a Democrat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up over 560 points.
Stocks rose after a better-than-expected jobs report. Meta and Microsoft’s respective earnings as renewed faith in the tech sector. Neither development is really tied to Trump. Economists said the economy was in a good place before Trump’s tariffs led many market watchers to increase the chances of a recession.
Earlier this week, Trump celebrated his first 100 days in office with some ignominious records. Among them, his first 100 days coincided with the worst performance for the S&P 500 and the Dow since President Nixon.
Trump blamed Biden, arguing that the market’s low performance was not his fault. In comments to reporters later on Wednesday, Trump also said it might be his predecessor’s fault if the GDP dropped again in the second quarter. This was Trump’s White House, he argued, but still Biden’s economy.
Even some of Trump’s most ardent allies didn’t buy it.
“What’s that old expression? Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining? Well that applies here,” Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy wrote on X. “The stock market is a direct reflection of Trumps 1st 100 days in office.”
And now, if Trump tries to share in the rebound’s success, it will sound like a bunch of, well, malarkey.
He may be wise to wait now, more tariffs are coming this weekend, a potential supply crunch is around the corner, and the 90-day pause ends in July.
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Biden’s stock market can’t keep this up forever.
