Donald Trump is the chaos president, and Wall Street has responded to all of the instability by delivering one of the worst years for stocks since the Great Depression.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average continued plummeting today — in a history-making session — after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin shocked investors worldwide over the weekend by tweeting that he had spoken unprompted to the CEOs of the six largest U.S. banks to ensure they were liquid.
It was the worst Christmas Eve trading session in U.S. history.
The Dow ended the day a dramatic 653 points lower at 21,792 in an abbreviated trading session ahead of the Christmas holiday.
That’s a decrease of 2.9 percent, adding to last week’s fall of 6.8 percent.
“I do believe this was the worst Dec. 24 in history,” U.S. Global Investors head trader Michael Matousek told ABC News. “There hasn’t been a worse Christmas Eve since I started in the industry 22 years ago.”
Last week was the index’s worst in 10 years — since the 2008 financial crisis.
This month is currently on track to end as the worst December since the Great Depression.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ was also crushed, ending the day more than 5 percent lower at 6,193.
It crossed into bear territory last week for the first time since the 2008 recession, which means it is down more than 20 percent from its record high on Aug. 29.
President Trump has consistently railed against raising interest rates and lashed out against its chairman, Jerome “Jay” Powell.
However, the recent sagging performance of the markets has been largely attributed to the White House’s policy moves, sparking a lingering trade war with China, invoking a government shutdown and chaotic news signaling political instability.
Trump, no longer able to blame Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, instead renewed his attack on the Federal Reserve, which has become predictable after poor performances on the stock market, which the president tends to focus on over other economic indicators.
The only problem our economy has is the Fed. They don’t have a feel for the Market, they don’t understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can’t score because he has no touch – he can’t putt!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2018
Trump had floated the firing Powell, but has learned he cannot do that.
A year ago Trump was bragging on Twitter about the stock market.
Donnie fiddles with his Twitter account while Wall Street burns.