ECONOMY/GOP/REGULATIONS/TAXES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Investors did not know what to expect from a Trump presidency. Would they get a traditional pro-business Republican who promised tax cuts, or an unpredictable populist who would disrupt trade? So far, they’ve gotten both in President Trump, who sees the stock market as a barometer of his success. Stocks are up 25 percent in the two years since his election, but it has not always been a smooth ride. Stocks around the world tumbled overnight after Mr. Trump’s victory. But by the start of trading in the United States on Nov. 9, investors had begun to embrace the idea of a Republican-controlled White House and Congress. The chaotic first year of the Trump presidency would feature policy missteps, White House firings, tensions with North Korea and developments in the Russia investigation. But investors focused on the promise of tax cuts and deregulation, pushing markets up and up, and Mr. Trump spent much of 2017 crowing about the market’s gains.”
–Peter Eavis, Stephen Grocer, Keith Collins and Karl Russell, “Trump Loves the Stock Market. Sometimes It Loves Him Back.,” The New York Times online, January 21, 2019