June 29, 2017 – The Tweet that Alarmed Financial Markets

Today, June 29, 2017, will be remembered for some time to come. It was the day when investors finally could not hide from the truth. The day when they realized that the market surge upward since the Trump election was a relief rally only -- relief that Hillary Clinton would not become the 45^th President, would not continue the Democrat’s liberal agenda, and would not continue to stifle the economy and the markets.

And so, markets soared, looking forward to the end of rigid regulations and other market constraints. There was such enthusiasm that the markets ignored the realities attending the election of Donald Trump. Principal among those realities was, very obviously, Donald Trump himself.

Since elected (and all the way along his campaign), most people kept their heads in the sand, working amazingly hard not to hear what he was saying, not to see the man, and not to come to terms with Trump’s finger on the nuclear button.

And many people, especially investors and those fueling the economic engine, did very well, neither listening nor seeing what the election had really wrought. They marvelously ignored Trump’s attacks on the press, his lack of seriousness, his limited world view, his ignorance of the very basics of democracy and leadership.

Although his tweets were especially red flags, those too were excused or downright ignored. Until June 29, 2017. That’s the date he came out with a hugely ugly and totally uncivil tweet and attack against Mika Brzezinski. Hitting back like a five year old to comments made on MSNBC, Trump showed how dangerous, how unstable, how immature he is and how much the U.S. is teetering at the brink of disaster. It was a tweet that no one could ignore. It was a tweet that could, should and did cause a huge drop (finally!) in the markets.