Trump Uses $15 Trillion Stock Gain as Success Gauge as Markets Sway Tariff and Iran Moves
Updated
Updated · The Week · Jul 16
Trump Uses $15 Trillion Stock Gain as Success Gauge as Markets Sway Tariff and Iran Moves
3 articles · Updated · The Week · Jul 16
Summary
Trump has treated stock indexes as a real-time scorecard, and weak market reactions have pushed him to soften or rethink policies on tariffs and the Iran conflict.
Monday's S&P drop after the U.S. reimposed a Strait of Hormuz blockade underscored that sensitivity, while Trump has said markets "shot up like a rocket ship" whenever peace talks seemed possible.
That focus can hand leverage to adversaries and investors: analysts said Iran saw Wall Street's reaction as pressure on Trump, while traders have learned to buy when he appears ready to back down.
The market's $15 trillion rise since Trump's second term began has mainly benefited the richest 1%, and roughly 40% of Americans own no stocks at all.
Bond markets are sending a harsher signal, with U.S. debt prices still below pre-Iran-war levels and some conservative investors shifting toward Canadian and European bonds.