Win McNamee
- Donald Trump likes to take credit for new stock market highs, but that idea is being increasingly rejected by both Wall Street and investors.
- Business Insider spoke to three big money managers who provided a wide range of alternative reasons for the stock market's continued excellence.
The stock market doesn't revolve around Donald Trump, regardless of what the president tries to claim.
This much should be clear to anyone who's enjoyed a seemingly endless series of record highs, even as Trump has failed to make progress on the policies he's been proposing for months. Sure, politicians and their supporters like to take credit for good news - no matter where it comes from. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin even went as far as warning on Wednesday that the market would sink if Trump's tax plan isn't adopted, because - he said - it's responsible for recent market records.
It's true that Trump inspired a rally that immediately followed the election - something noted by Business Insider in a recent assessment of the president's market proclamations - but for the past several months, there have been other factors lifting stocks to all-time highs.
Wall Street certainly agrees. In a recent client note, Credit Suisse chief US equity strategist Jonathan Golub lamented the undue credit Trump seemed to be getting for stock records. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley equity strategist Adam J. Wilson said earlier this week that Trump's tax plan isn't yet priced into the market.
But just to make sure, Business Insider spoke to the managers of three multi-billion-dollar funds, who all acknowledged that the so-called "Trump bump" has faded. While they think any tax reform measure that gets passed could renew the president's influence on stocks, they credit the records to factors outside of the president's control.
And interestingly enough, they each provided a different reason, which speaks to the fact that a great deal is going right for the US market right now outside of Trump.
Here are the three factors to which they're attributing the record-breaking stock market: