Despite the Federal Reserve intervening and Donald Trump’s TV appearances and press conferences, stocks plunged so deeply on Monday that The New York Stock Exchange quickly imposed a new market-wide trading pause.
“The New York Stock Exchange shut down trading within minutes of the opening on Monday, as coronavirus fears prompted a massive sell-off that sent shares plummeting.
The S&P 500 declined 8 percent after trading started at 9:30 a.m., resulting in a mandatory 15-minute break under Securities and Exchange Commission rules. The pause was the third in two weeks and only the fourth in history.
shutdown of bars and restaurants, and central banks intervened in the markets. The Federal Reserve on Sunday made a surprise announcement that it would slash interest rates to zero and buy hundreds of billions of dollars in bonds, but it wasn’t enough to prevent stock markets from cratering.
Pre-market trading had already shown signs of strain in stock futures. By the time markets opened, futures for all three major indices — the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq composite index had dropped 5 percent, hitting the maximum allowable sell-off price for futures before the market opens.”
There have been several stock market nosedives since the coronavirus crisis began, one of the worst when Trump held a press conference to reassure Wall Street and Americans and it was widely seen a massive flop. Then last week after one of his appearances it soared back up again and Trump sent autographed photos of a chart of the biggest stock gain history.
Those are now particularly unique and ironic collectors’ items. CNN’s John Harwood writes that Trump is projecting confidence but the markets aren’t listening.
“The reasons why grow increasingly evident over time. The qualities of leadership nervous investors yearn for — candor, command of facts, stability and predictability — are qualities that Trump’s record shows him temperamentally incapable of providing.
Inn real estate, Trump built his reputation on gaudy claims unconstrained by reality. His 1987 memoir boasted about this “very effective form of promotion.” ….That extravagant style defined his presidential campaign. “I alone can fix” America’s problems, he boasted, promising a cost-free tax cut, health care system, and wall on the Mexican border.
Backed by a strong economy, Trump sustained that posture even as myriad setbacks exposed the hollowness of his words. He gained fresh election-year swagger after fellow Republicans in the Senate acquitted him of impeachment charges, beginning an administration loyalty purge as his poll ratings hit new highs.
Now the accelerating health and economic damage from coronavirus disproves his boasts in real time. As Wall Street and average Americans alike seek clear guidance, Trump’s bravado damages confidence rather than strengthens it.
“He grandiosity was probably at its highest point ever a month ago,” said Tony Schwartz, Trump’s “Art of the Deal” co-author. “And suddenly the floor has been pulled out from under him.”
…At every turn, Trump has proven unable to acknowledge mistakes of judgment or execution, demonstrate understanding of the crisis, and gird Americans for hard times ahead. He praises his own performance while blaming difficulties on others: Europe, President Barack Obama, the news media, Democrats, the Federal Reserve, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One famous commercial proclaimed “When E.F. Hutton talks people listen.” At times it seems as if when Donald Trump talks market tumble.
Former New York Times "Reporter" Jim Roberts Tweets, "The Dow Has Fallen 300 points Since Trump Started Speaking," Then Stealth-Deletes as Down Rises Nearly 10%, Nearly 2000 Points https://t.co/cJJ3PRAOcY
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) March 13, 2020
CNBC Contributor: "I would say [Trump] autographing the five-minute chart of the market's performance on Friday will go down in history along the same lines as George W. Bush with the 'Mission Accomplished' banner on the aircraft carrier. It's pretty much the same thing." pic.twitter.com/QXFep6wrXF
— Lis Power (@LisPower1) March 16, 2020
BREAKING: Dow down over 2,400 points today following Trump’s weekend of lie-filled press conferences. Trump absolutely owns the point loss today. You can’t have a pathologically lying president, who isn’t trusted by anyone across the world, especially in times of crisis.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) March 16, 2020
Trump's done shot every bullet in his financial gun and the market's still in free-fall. This is what total incompetence looks like. https://t.co/3XrkEbaQgp
— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) March 16, 2020
Three days ago https://t.co/UDszUMUh5w
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) March 16, 2020
Trump on Saturday: "We walked back, I said, 'So how did that work out?' They said, 'Sir, you just set a new record in the history of the stock market.' So that was pretty good." pic.twitter.com/KNkWfF04mj
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) March 16, 2020
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.