Stocks log worst week since 2008: March 20, 2020
The Dow closed 913 points, or 4.6% lower, dropping 17.3%this week. The index has now erased all of the gains accumulated during the Trump administration.
The S&P 500 finished down 4.3%. It fell 15% on the week.
The Nasdaq Composite slipped 3.8%, for a 12.6% loss this week.
It is a notable that only a week ago, Trump was giving out signed copies of the Dow’s biggest one-day point gain of 1,294 points.
Of course, that one-day gain was among a bunch of record-setting losses, but really, who’s counting
As has already been noted by most news outlets, The Dow Jones has already lost every single bit of gain during Trump’s occupancy — but it looks like the downward trend is likely to continue for awhile yet.
While in office, Trump hasn’t had many accomplishments to brag about. And presiding over a growing economy doesn’t really show that he accomplished much of anything, but I supposed that never stopped him from bragging about it.
On the other hand, in my view, if there was one thing he would really take credit for, is just how badly the economy has tanked since then.
The fact is that while COVID-19 may be the catalyst for an economic downturn, it is a recession that Trump entirely owns.
Yet policymakers decided to inject costly stimulus into what was already the longest economic expansion in American history. The Federal Reserve, seeking to counter damage caused by the US-China trade war, fired off three of its remaining nine interest rate cuts in 2019.
A trade war that Trump engineered
Worse, Congress and the White House borrowed heavily to pay for spending surges and tax cuts to juice growth. None of it lived up to the hype.
Tax cuts and a trillion dollar deficit, thanks to Trump
Add in how Trump’s botched handling of the COVID-19 made markets even more chaotic than they otherwise would have been, and it is all an entire economic recession — perhaps even a depression — that can directly be attributed to Trump. Should be unsurprising, given how many times his own businesses had to file for bankruptcy. Guess what! Now he doesn’t just run businesses into the ground, his claim to fame will be that he does it to countries, too.
Although Trump and his regime like Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin are now trying to push through economic stimulus that could help prop up the economy, the fact is, it just doesn’t change the fact that Trump no longer has any economic growth to point to, and a whole lot more reasons for his detractors to point to his impact actually making things worse.
I guess I shouldn’t hold my breath waiting for Trump to release another hand-signed stock market chart anytime soon.