Early in 2023, Donald Trump clearly thought he had a winning issue with stocks.
A regular part of his message was to claim President Biden was market poison, with the former president vigorously comparing the down year of 2022 to the Great Depression of 1929.
“Does anyone have a 401(k)? Raise your hand if you’re happy with it,” he asked of a crowd in Davenport, Iowa, back in March. “They were happy when I was running this country,” he added.
But the market has been on a tear since then, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) reaching a new all-time record in December and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) now on the cusp of a similar milestone.
Where markets ended the year all but assures the ups and downs of stocks will be a regular feature on the campaign trail in 2024 in what is widely expected to be a Biden/Trump rematch.
For Trump’s part, the recent highs have forced a candidate who loves…
