ECONOMY/FEDERAL RESERVE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday [1-2-19] played down the stock market’s drop at the end of 2018, calling it a ‘glitch’ and saying the market will again go up once various trade deals are settled. Trump, who has repeatedly posted messages on Twitter extolling stock market gains, said the Federal Reserve should help keep markets stable…Trump in the final months of 2018 repeatedly attacked the Fed, blaming market volatility on the central bank’s steady and gradual interest-rate increases and calling it the “only problem” for the U.S. economy. The Fed has a dual mandate to promote maximum employment and stable prices. U.S. stocks in 2018 had their worst year in a decade, heavily driven by steep price drops in the last quarter. On Wednesday, the first trading day of 2019, stocks stumbled on investor fears over a global economic slowdown.[.N] Fears were fuelled by reports that factory activity weakened across much of Europe and Asia in December due to the U.S.-China trade war.”
–Reuters, “Trump: December’s Stock Market Fall a ‘Glitch’,” The New York Times online, January 2, 2019