- Veteran economist and president of Yardeni Research, Ed Yardeni, addressed President Donald Trump's economic advisers at a White House lunch this week. He told Business Insider what he said.
- Yardeni said Trump did not attend the meeting, which was arranged by Larry Kudlow, director of the White House's National Economic Council.
- Among the main themes the economist addressed were US-China trade tensions and volatility in the stock market.
Veteran economist and strategist Ed Yardeni shared his perspective on the economy and the market with President Donald Trump's top economic advisers at the White House this week, and his biggest talking points included the US-China trade war and stock market volatility.
Trade uncertainty has rocked the stock market in recent months, with many economists citing the trade war as the biggest threat to the US economy next year. Stocks saw a boost this week on hopes of a resolution.
Yardeni, who discussed the presentation in a phone interview with Business Insider on Thursday, said he was invited by Larry Kudlow, director of the president's National Economic Council. However, Kudlow was not in attendance for the lunch on Wednesday, Yardeni said, and neither was President Trump.
He said that he and Jason Trennert, CEO and chief investment strategist of Strategas Research Partners, presented to a group of 10 people, among them "several of the president's top economic advisers." Yardeni went into the lunch with four key themes: trade between the US and China, monetary and fiscal policies, productivity and the supply side, and the stock market.
He would not elaborate further on the attendees or on the advisers' reactions to his presentation, but said the group was a "bunch of Cool Hand Lukes" who "kept their cards close to the vest" and revealed little by way of reaction to Yardeni's points.
"I don't have a clue whether it just simply corroborated things they're thinking, or I gave them new insights," he said.
Yardeni is no stranger to the intersection of markets and policy. He spent decades on Wall Street in a variety of top positions like chief investment strategist of Deutsche Bank and chief economist of Prudential, and worked at the US Treasury and at the Federal Reserve in both Washington, DC, and New York.
Here are the eight charts he ran through: