Matthew Lynn

Does Trump want a stock market crash?

(Getty Images)

There ‘could be a recession’, said President Trump over the weekend with the kind of nonchalant shrug that suggested he was not too bothered one way or the other. He was even going to buy a Tesla to help out his ‘first buddy’ Elon Musk as the company’s share price collapsed. The markets had assumed there was a ‘Trump put’ – that is the President would always ride to the rescue to keep the bull market running. But there is no sign of it. Instead Trump seems perfectly relaxed about the huge losses, even encouraging the sell-off. Of course, it might just that he does not know what to do. But it is also possible that he wants a correction if not a full-blown crash, and is happy to see the indices fall.

It has been a very rough few days for Wall Street.

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