Searching for words to support the Trump rally

Call it the election relief rally. Call it the presidential promise rally. Call it an extension of the longest stock rally in a quarter of a century.

However one wants to refer to the stock market rally we’ve seen since November, it’s indisputable that it has been marked by a historic runup in prices, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index increasing more than 10 percent during the stretch. That’s more than a year’s worth of gains in a third of the time.

Stock rallies have many sparks, but the heat generated in the market since the election of Donald Trump as president has been due in no small part to the economic policies he pledged during the campaign: tax reform, infrastructure spending, financial reforms and repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.

In the week ahead, President Trump has his first significant opportunity to back up his campaign rhetoric with presidential political action.

On Tuesday night, the president will address a joint session of Congress. It will be the equivalent of his first State of the Union address but will lack that title since he’s yet to serve a year in office.

Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway told Politico the president will “put forth a detailed and deliberative recitation of the many things he’s accomplished in the first 40 days.”

The challenge for President Trump and the stock rally, though, is that investors aren’t interested in past achievements. They need confidence that Trump, beyond his status quo-shattering first month in office, has the political skills to navigate his ambitious economic agenda through a fractious Congress.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Financial journalist Tom Hudson hosts “The Sunshine Economy” on WLRN-FM in Miami, where he is the vice president of news. He is the former co-anchor and managing editor of “Nightly Business Report” on public television. Follow him on Twitter HudsonsView.