The Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed a new milestone of 22,000 on Wednesday.
And on Thursday morning, President Donald Trump again boasted about the stock market records that have been the best economic development of his presidency.
“Business is looking better than ever with business enthusiasm at record levels,” Trump said in a tweet on Thursday morning.
“Stock market at an all-time high. That doesn’t just happen!”
Business is looking better than ever with business enthusiasm at record levels. Stock Market at an all-time high. That doesn’t just happen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2017
Trump’s tweet is the latest in a series of boasts the president has made about the stock market over the last few weeks.
We noted earlier this week that while the stock market’s rising to a new record does create a so-called “wealth effect” whereby both businesses and consumers feel better about their economic prospects, 46% of Americans don’t have any exposure to the stock market at all. This means many Americans are not getting a direct benefit from the stock market’s new record highs.
Trump’s tweet also comes as something of a rebuke to the idea that while the stock market has rallied to new records since his election — the benchmark S&P 500 index is up over 18% since election night — this rally has been but an extension of the bull market we saw during the Obama administration.
From its low in March 2009, the S&P rallied 225% through Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2017. This run, however, accelerated after the election, and some strategists have argued we are only now at the beginning of a new bull market.
Trump added in a follow-up tweet Thursday morning, “I am continuing to get rid of costly and unnecessary regulations. Much work left to do but effect will be great! Business & jobs will grow.”
The impact that cutting regulations could have on the U.S. economy and the stock market has been touted by many analysts as an under-appreciated aspect of the economic plan the White House has branded “MAGAnomics.”
Back in February, strategist Tom Lee of Fundstrat said that for investors, “deregulation is your biggest lever to pull.” Lee said at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit that financial sector regulation has cost $55 billion over the last eight years; tech sector regulations cost another $30 billion.
Unlike tax reform or infrastructure spending, both of which face arduous legislative paths, a deregulatory agenda can be enacted more swiftly by the president.
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Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland
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