The distracting shiny object: S&P ups and downs
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
For anyone who gets their economic news from cable TV, we're in the craziest period of the Trump presidency so far.
Driving the news: The S&P 500 fell by 3.4% last Monday, Feb. 24. It then fell another 3% the following day, and it fell by 4.4% on Thursday Feb. 27. This week, it rose 4.6% on Monday, fell 2.8% on Tuesday, and rose 4.2% on Wednesday. It's entirely possible we'll see another 3%+ swing today.
Making matters worse: With the market still near all-time highs, a 3.7% intraday swing in the Dow corresponds to a 1,000-point move.
- That's guaranteed to generate banner headlines — and freak out boomers who still think of 1,000 Dow points as being a major milestone.
How it works: The Trump administration explicitly uses the stock market as a barometer of its success, and the coronavirus was a large part of the reason for the recent stock-market volatility. Those factors explain why Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow were appointed to the government's coronavirus task force.
The bottom line: So long as the stock market remains volatile, expect Trump to fixate much more on the Dow than he does on CDC mortality reports.
Go deeper: How Trump’s economy stacks up
