How Has The Stock Market Performed Under Trump?

President Donald Trump used positive stock market movement throughout 2017 as validation for his economic policies in his first year on the job, but at the end of 2018, things do not look as positive. According to data compiled in December by the Washington Post, Trump’s first two years in office do not compare especially favorably to former President Barack Obama’s in terms of stock market performance.

Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose by more points in Obama’s second year in office than in Trump’s, per the Post. One factor working in Trump’s favor is that both indexes are higher overall now than they were in Obama’s second year when the 2008 recession was a more recent memory.

Overall market growth in the first two years since each president’s inauguration also looked slightly better for Obama. The Post noted that Trump’s first two years saw more massive one-day slides in the market than Obama’s first two years.

Something that does not help Trump’s case in this competition is the market’s performance in the fourth quarter of 2018. The end of the year is supposed to be a strong period for the market, but the Dow lost 650 points on Christmas Eve alone. Each major index lost around 10 percent in December.

A late December press release from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin regarding market liquidity was said to kickstart the market slide.

CNBC noted the S&P 500 will have one of its worst December months in several decades. The index had risen by 9 percent through the first three quarters of 2018, but will actually end the year down 7 percent. The S&P 500 has never ended a year at a loss after positive gains through the first three quarters.