The White House on Monday brushed aside the stock market selloff as "animal spirits" and instead pointed to the "more meaningful" activity of businesses and business leaders in the wake of the worst day on Wall Street since President Donald Trump took office.
The White House released two different statements Monday to assuage anxiety as the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 all experienced sharp declines. The Nasdaq saw its worst day of trading since 2022.
At the heart of the issue is the uncertainty of a trade war with Canada and Mexico that has surfaced with Trump's tariffs.
"We're seeing a strong divergence between animal spirits of the stock market and what we're actually seeing unfold from businesses and business leaders," a White House official told reporters Monday, CNBC reported, adding, "The latter is obviously more meaningful than the former on what's in store for the economy in the medium to long term."
"Animal spirits" refers to selloffs being driven by psychological and emotional factors rather than logic, a foundation of behavioral economics.
Trump on Sunday called the weeks-long selloff a "period of transition" but demurred when asked if he expected a recession. "I hate to predict things like that," he added. He touted economic policies that are "bringing wealth back to America."
One analyst said Trump's answer about the recession "unnerved" the unnerved.
"President Trump's comments not necessarily taking a recession off the table unnerved investors who were already unnerved," Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise, told CNN.
In a separate statement Monday, the White House touted confidence in the U.S. economy.
"Since President Trump was elected, industry leaders have responded to President Trump's America First economic agenda of tariffs, deregulation, and the unleashing of American energy with trillions in investment commitments that will create thousands of new jobs," White House spokesman Kush Desai said.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett called the market tumbles a "blip in the data."
"There are a lot of reasons to be extremely bullish about the economy going forward," Hassett told CNBC. "But for sure, this quarter, there are some blips in the data, including the negative GDPNow, which are related both to the [Joe] Biden inheritance and to some timing effects that are happening ahead of tariffs."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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