President Trump speaks as Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen listens (R). Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images
"2017 turned out to be the global economy's best year since 2010, according to the International Monetary Fund, and 2018 looks even better," the WashPost's David Lynch writes:
The takeaway: "Investors and corporate executives ... have learned to cope with an unpredictable president, often by ignoring his most provocative statements ... the contrast between Trump's inflammatory rhetoric and the placid economic scene is striking..."
- The big picture: "Economics dominated politics last year outside the United States, too. In Europe, fears that ascendant populism in Britain, Poland, and Hungary would destabilize the E.U. proved exaggerated. And in Asia, prosperity surged despite rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula."
- What's next: "[S]ome foreign executives are acting on concerns that the president may finally erect barriers against countries that sell more to the United States than they buy. ... Japanese companies [including] Toyota ... have stepped up investments in U.S.-based research, production and distribution."
N.Y. Times Quote of the Day ... From a front-page James Stewart "Common Sense" column, "The Dow Hits 25,000: The Party Will End One Day, but When?":
- James Stack, a market historian and president of InvesTech Research: "A correction would be healthy. The longer we go without one, the greater the risk this will end badly."