ANOTHER STOCK RECORD: 22,000
Trump’s Dow rally yuge but not nearly the best
The Trump rally continued its stunning run on Wednesday, clearing the 22,000-point level on the Dow Jones industrial average — an amazing 20 percent rise since Election Day.
But as strong as the President Trump-fueled bull run has been (the Dow stood at 18,332 points on Nov. 8), it’s only the seventh best ninemonth run — on a percentage basis — for a president since the popular index was established in 1896.
A lot of what is keeping the Trump rally from a better place in history is math.
“A 1,000-point move 30 years ago was an impressive change, but now to go from 21,000 to 22,000 is less than 5 percent,” Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank, told The Post.
On a percentage basis, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s nine months from his 1932 election through Aug. 2, 1933, takes the cake. The Dow popped 53.8 percent over that span.
To be sure, FDR started at a low base. The Dow stood at 64.60 on the day he was elected.
Bill Clinton had the second-best Dow run among postwar presidents. The index rose 34.7 percent from when he was elected to his second term through the following Aug. 2— rocketing over the 7,000-point and 8,000-point plateaus.
On Tuesday, Trump correctly predicted on Twitter that the Dow would soon hit 22,000. Investors are feeling fatter, but Wall Street pros are not too amazed.
“From Election Day to the first or second week of December, all credit should go to the president-elect — but since late January, early February, investors seemed to
turn their back on the Trump trade,” Ablin said.
This could be why Trump ranks fourth among postwar presidents.
The president is sandwiched between George H. W. Bush, who oversaw a 24.9 percent pop on 1988 campaign promises of “No New Taxes,” and Trump nemesis Barack Obama — whose second term started with an 18.2 percent jump.