It was a great year, thanks to Trump

It’s been a truly remarkable year for North American stock markets. As 2019 began, everything seemed to be doom and gloom after a December market plunge that saw the S&P 500 drop close to bear market territory by the day before Christmas — bah, humbug!

What a difference a year makes! As I write, all the major U.S. indexes have just hit record highs. Nasdaq is leading the way with a year-to-date gain of 32.8 per cent. The S&P 500 is ahead 27.3 per cent, while the Dow is up just over 21 per cent. Here at home, the S&P/TSX Composite wasn’t quite as robust, but the gain of 19.1 per cent was certainly respectable.

So, what happened to turn the markets around after the dismal finish in 2018? In my view, three things. All revolve around Donald Trump.

Business-friendly policies. Say what you like about Trump. I find him to be a super sensitive egotist with vicious streak of cruelty. According to the polls most Canadians dislike him.

He doesn’t care. Remember his election slogan: “Make America Great Again.” Not make the world great. Not make North America great. Certainly not make Canada great.

Trump’s focus has been strictly on the United States and finding ways to strengthen its economy. The results speak for themselves. The U.S. unemployment rate in November stood at 3.5 per cent, the lowest since 1969. Some 266,000 jobs were created that month — while Canada was losing more than 71,000 at the same time. Manufacturing jobs have shown a steady increase since Trump’s inauguration in 2017, according to the Bureau