In case there was any doubt, the Trump administration sees the stock market as a good barometer of how the economy is doing.
In an interview with CNBC on Thursday morning, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said “absolutely” in response to a question about whether the stock market is a “report card” for how the economy is doing right now.
“Obviously, the stock market has rallied significantly since President Trump took office… do you view that as a report?” asked CNBC’s Becky Quick.
“Absolutely,” Mnuchin said. “This is a mark-to-market business, and you see what the market thinks.”
This does not come as a total surprise as we’ve seen in recent weeks, both Donald Trump and other White House officials have cheered stock market records.
On Wednesday, the Dow hit a new record high for the 9th straight day. Since Trump’s election, the Dow is up about 14% and the benchmark S&P 500 is up about 11%.
And, of course, celebrating a higher stock market is an easy line for the administration to take right now given that markets have basically gone straight up since bottoming out on election night.
But Quick asked Mnuchin how the administration would view a decline in markets, particularly given the speed at which markets have risen.
“I’ve always been focused in the markets not on day-trading…so whether the market goes up or down on any given day, I’ve given up figuring out why that is,” Mnuchin said.
Mnuchin added that, “we’re in an environment where there’s very attractive investment opportunities in the US, and I think that’s reflective of the administration’s goals and what the market thinks of it.”
As for tax reform, which has been perhaps the most anticipated part of potential reforms from the Trump administration, Mnuchin said he hopes to have a tax reform plan passed by Congress’ August recess.
Mnuchin added that any economic impacts from new tax plans aren’t likely to be felt until next year.
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Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland
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