CONVENTIONAL wisdom gets turned on its head quickly in the financial markets. Although many on Wall Street were gloomy about the prospects under a Trump presidency, the markets have performed a sharp U-turn after the overnight decline on election day.
So many people (including The Economist) had warned of the crazy policies of Donald Trump that there was always going to be a market for contrarians to say that he won’t be that bad after all. Especially among white, prosperous financial commentators there is a willingness to “normalise” Mr Trump—to tell the groups he has insulted and threatened to get over their fears. What Mr Trump does in office will be different from what he said on the campaign, they think. (If you want to see what minority groups have to put up with from Mr Trump’s supporters, look here.)
What investors clearly hope is that Mr Trump will get to implement some of his policies but not all—in particular the tax cuts for the wealthy and for business, increased military spending and financial…Continue reading