Dow Jones Trails S&P 500 and Nasdaq
Shortly before the opening bell, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures had gained 49 points or 0.19 percent, implying a 47.34 point increase. S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures jumped even higher, with the former leaping 0.32 percent and the latter surging 0.61 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) looks poised to open to modest gains on Wednesday. | Source: Yahoo Finance
On Tuesday, the Dow gained 67.89 points or 0.26 percent to close at 26,452.66. The S&P 500 rose just 0.05 percent but again closed above the key 2,900 level, while the Nasdaq edged past the 8,000 mark following its 0.3 percent advance.
Donald Trump Ridicules ‘Sleepy Joe’ & ‘Crazy Bernie Sanders’
Today, voters – and Wall Street – got another taste of Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection strategy as the president mocked his top challengers with new nicknames: “Crazy Bernie Sanders” and “Sleepy Joe Biden.”
“I believe it will be Crazy Bernie Sanders vs. Sleepy Joe Biden as the two finalists to run against maybe the best Economy in the history of our Country (and MANY other great things)!,” Trump gloated on Twitter. “I look forward to facing whoever it may be. May God Rest Their Soul!”
I believe it will be Crazy Bernie Sanders vs. Sleepy Joe Biden as the two finalists to run against maybe the best Economy in the history of our Country (and MANY other great things)! I look forward to facing whoever it may be. May God Rest Their Soul!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2019
Trump’s boast came at the tail-end of a multi-hour tweetstorm in which he pilloried Bernie Sanders – and seethed at Fox News – following the Democratic frontrunner’s town hall on the conservative cable news network.
In addition to peddling the conspiracy that Fox News had purposely stuffed the studio with Bernie Bros, Trump accused Sanders of hypocrisy for his opposition to the administration’s tax cuts.
“He is always complaining about these big TAX CUTS, except when it benefits him. They made a fortune off of Trump,” the president said.
Earlier this week, Emerson Polling revealed that Bernie Sanders had raced to a comfortable lead in the Democratic primary contest. The democrat-socialist from Vermont polled at 29 percent among Democratic primary voters, with Joe Biden – who has yet to formally announce his candidacy – trailing slightly behind at 24 percent.
Early polls suggest the Democratic primary is a two-horse race between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. Trump has responded accordingly. | Source: Emerson Polling
No other candidate polls at greater than 9 percent, suggesting that the Democrats are well on their way to nominating their own old white man to challenge the one that currently occupies the White House.
Betting Markets Are Less Bullish on Bernie
But while Bernie Sanders has jumped to a clear polling advantage, betting market data paints a somewhat murkier picture about his presidential odds.
Prediction markets forecast a closer race than Democratic primary polling suggests. | Source: PredictIt
In the Democratic primary market, he retains a small lead over Joe Biden, but that lead has narrowed now that it appears the former vice president will survive his #MeToo moment. The two septuagenarians also face a surprising challenge from South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, whose nomination odds have more than tripled in the past month.
Moreover, Bernie Sanders has actually dropped to third in the “Who will win the 2020 US presidential election?” market, sliding just behind Biden. Trump continues to dominate this market, though traders heavily favor the generic Democrat candidate over the generic Republican.
Robert Shiller: Trump Win Would Boost Dow
Notably, despite Trump’s alleged anti-establishment stance, entrenched financiers seem to favor the president, or at least view his reelection as an inevitability.
An RBC Capital Markets survey recently found that a staggering 70 percent of Wall Street insiders believe Trump will become the fourth straight president to win reelection, and Goldman Sachs published analysis indicating that Trump will likely score a “narrow” victory in a deeply-divisive contest.
Even Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller broke from his oft-bearish market forecast to predict that a Trump victory in 2020 would invigorate equity prices, allowing the Dow to pound toward new highs.
Trump, unsurprisingly, agrees:
Had the opposition party (no, not the Media) won the election, the Stock Market would be down at least 10,000 points by now. We are heading up, up, up!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2019
Click here for a real-time Dow Jones Industrial Average price chart.