From gilded penthouses and fancy cars to big yachts and oversized Brioni suits, Donald Trump’s penchant for spending is the stuff of legends.
While such in-your-face wealth rubs many the wrong way, Yale professor and Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller says Trump’s lavish ways could be a good thing for investors should the president win a second term.
‘Trump is a model for extravagant living and big spending. All these things are boosting of the stock market.’
Well, if that is, indeed, a driver, it seems to be working so far.
Since Trump won the election in 2016, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA, +0.26%
has surged more than 40%. And that’s not enough for Trump, who says it should actually be as much as 10,000 points higher.
Read: Here’s where the stock market ranks when it comes to predicting presidential election results
But it’s more than just the modeling of rampant consumption that could keep the tailwinds to this bull market blowing, Shiller says.
“It’s very clear that Trump is a pro-business candidate,” he told CNBC in an interview this week. “It also seems likely that when Jerome Powell’s term as Fed chairman expires, he’ll bring someone in that he controls more, and bring someone who can stimulate the economy without worrying.”
While Powell is confirmed to remain on the board at the Federal Reserve until 2028, his chairman term expires in 2022.
Trump’s relationship with Powell has been a frosty one, and now the independence of the Fed is being questioned as the White House pushes the nomination of two political allies with little economics training to the board.
Related: Here’s where the market is, and isn’t, pricing in a loss of Fed independence
For his part, Shiller says he’d reappoint Powell.
“I mean, you could find someone else, I suppose,” he said. “But the recent nominees that Trump has suggested suggests that he would politicize the Federal Reserve, take it away from the professionals and put it in the hands of his cronies.”
Read: Shiller says yield curve is ‘overrated as an indicator’
Watch the full CNBC interview:
The Dow closed Tuesday up 68 points at 26,453, while the S&P
SPX, +0.05%
moved within striking distance of a new record.
Source : MTV
