He huffed. He puffed. But President Trump didn’t blow down a shaky stock market a day after it plunged because of renewed tariff fears.
Trump used his bully pulpit at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday to hit all his classic notes. During an hour-plus speech, he attacked Fed Chair Jerome Powell for being “too late” to cut interest rates. He suggested for the first time that Powell’s replacement will be a man.
He even set in motion plans to stop institutions from buying single-family homes, but did apologize to his billionaire friends (see Blackstone (BX) CEO Steve Schwarzman, whose firm stands to lose) in the audience about doing so.
Above all else, Trump said he would not use force to seize control of Greenland, a country that he frequently panned as a “piece of ice.”
That was enough for a jittery market to scry that Trump won’t go nuclear with his latest tariff threat against Europe.
As of this writing, all three major indexes were in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was leading the way with a 0.6% gain. Investors returned to richly valued momentum stocks such as AMD (AMD) and Google (GOOG).
In effect, he made the loyal buy-the-dip market goers happy from hundreds of miles away.
“He was direct and to the point,” Kace Capital Advisors managing partner Kenny Polcari said.
It was a sentiment shared throughout Wall Street as Trump’s speech was digested by trading desks.
“For now, yes, [it quiets the market down],” Crossmark Global Investments chief markets strategist Victoria Fernandez said. “The statement that force would not be used on Greenland (which I think we all knew already, but good to hear him say it) was very helpful.”
Also helpful: a bullish speech on AI at Davos from Trump CEO bestie, and first-time WEF attendee, Jensen Huang.
The Nvidia (NVDA) co-founder — sporting his trademark black leather coat — said he’s seeing a “boom” in trade jobs and six-figure salaries for those helping to build out AI infrastructure.
“Everyone should be able to make a great living,” Huang said. He added that he anticipates the current wave of AI will lead to the “largest infrastructure build-out in human history” involving trillions of dollars.
He also pushed back, again, on the notion of there being an AI bubble.
What a difference a day makes for sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite all suffered heavy losses on Tuesday, with investors bidding up safe-haven assets like gold (GC=F). Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell below $90,000.
