My favorite politics professor, back in the early days of personal computing, used to compare the American economy to a PC: Politicians put in garbage — meaning, policy — all the time. And the economy keeps chugging along more or less undisturbed. Which was not, despite his claims, historic in its size or scope.

And which has stalled notably since Dec. Some quick bullet points and examples:. But then came the crucial admission: Especially when much of it is based on rooting for a return to fraudulent practices that ended in disaster?

Especially since every Detroit 3 auto maker has major operations in Mexico — making U. That rally was fizzling even before Trump went on at a press conference that drug prices are out of control. Not even him, most likely. We have an economy at or near full employment, and inflation-adjusted median household incomes are within a hair of Internet-boom levels. To make stocks sustain rallies, Trump has to do more than not run the country off a cliff.

He must inspire confidence that things will be better, or else priced-for-optimism stock multiples will contract — and he has to deliver the goods, in the form of better economic data and company profits.

And macro data has moved mostly the wrong way since the election. As Buffett says, markets vote in the short run but weigh results in the long run. Nothing Trump said, let alone how he said it, should raise confidence he can deliver them.

Tim Mullaney is a commentary writer who covers the economy and corporate news. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Service , Privacy Policy , and Cookie Policy. Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use. Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. All quotes are in local exchange time. Real-time last sale data for U.

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