Trump’s economy is stuttering: stock exchange closes with losses

Consumer confidence dropped

Trump’s economy stutters

Several data from the United States show: Donald Trump’s first decree apparently harms the economy – also the tariffs.

Almost a month after Donald Trump took office, there is little to notice in the American economy that he wants to make the country great again, as he promised in the election campaign. On Friday there was a bad mood on the stock exchanges, the tickers of the business news agencies reported one low after the other.

The Dow-Jones index of the default values ​​closed 1.7 percent lower to 43,428 points on Friday. He at times lost 800 points. The technology -based Nasdaq gave 2.2 percent to 19,524 points. The broad S&P 500 lost 1.7 percent to 6,013 positions, the lowest status in two months.

But it doesn’t look good for other data either. The service sector, in which many Trump voters work, has stuttered. The shopping manager index in February fell to 50.4 points from 52.7 points in January, as the financial service provider S&P Global announced on Friday for its monthly company survey. “The companies report a widespread concern of the effects of the policy of the US government-from spending papers to tariffs to geopolitical developments,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at the analysis house S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Trump’s economic policy includes, among other things, that production and consumption are boosted again in his own country. There is no turn in the latter, on the contrary. Increasing inflation worries grab the mood of the US consumers noticeably.

The barometer for consumer confidence dropped to 64.7 points in February, the first month after the take office of US President Donald Trump – after 71.1 points in January, as the University of Michigan announced on Friday for its survey. “There are signs that the economy slows down, and in combination with the fears of the unknown of the tariffs, this leads to a certain reluctance on the market,” said Peter Cardillo, chief economist at the Spartan financial service provider.

The US individual trade started the year with a surprisingly strong sales damper. In January, retail revenues decreased by 0.9 percent, as the Ministry of Commerce announced in Washington on Friday. An average analysts had only expected a minus of 0.2 percent. Economists explained the weak performance, among other things, with increasing consumer prices.

The number of sales of existing homes in the USA also sank unexpectedly at the beginning of the year. “The mortgage interests have not changed for several months, despite several rounds of short-term interest rate reductions through the Federal Reserve,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR. “In connection with the high real estate prices, the affordability of living space remains a major challenge.”

Smaller US companies are particularly affected on the stock exchange, their profits are closer linked to the economic situation in the country than that of mulit national companies. The shares of these smaller companies fell more than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 fell by 2.9 percent. But the industry giants are not spared either: On Friday, 4 out of five values ​​fell in the S&P500 index, from tech companies such as Nvidia to United Airlines.

The American central bank Fed kept its key interest stable after reducing it until the end of last year. The protocol of the last FED session published at the beginning of this week indicates that the key interest rate will be retained for a while.

Apparently, the concerns predominate that Trump’s planned tariffs and mass deportations of migrants together with other factors could increase inflation. “I think it is reasonable to maintain the key interest rate for a certain time if you consider the balance of the risks that we are currently facing,” said American central bank chief Adriana Kugler on Thursday.