Dow’s record run doesn’t enrich all

The Dow is up 25% this year, but not all Americans are celebrating — despite President Trump’s tweets about the good times on Wall Street and the Dow Jones Industrial average’s ongoing chase of the 25,000 milestone.

The reason: Only about half (54%) of Americans own stocks, well below the 62% that were invested before the 2008 financial crisis, according to the latest data from Gallup.

Stocks lost more than half of their value in the 2007 to 2009 bear market, causing many investors to yank their cash from the market and stay out. As a result, Gallup’s data show fewer Americans today are in a position to profit from the market’s sharp rise.

Trump lauded the Dow’s 70th record close of 2017 in a Monday tweet: “70 Record Closes for the Dow so far this year! We have NEVER had 70 Dow Records in a one year period. Wow!” Trump has also been using the strong stock market to boost his sinking approval ratings. At a rally this month in Florida, according to Bloomberg, he asked aloud; “And, by the way, how are your 401(k)s doing? Not too bad, right?”

Gallup blames investors’ lack of love affair with the stock market, even one that keeps going up, on the psychological scars caused by the 2008 financial crisis and ensuing equity meltdown.

“Fewer Americans are benefiting from today’s bull market than did so in bull markets before the financial crisis,” Gallup concluded. “It appears the financial crisis and recession may have fundamentally changed some Americans’ views of stocks as an investment.”