As Trump World flails, the Bubbly stock market goes with it

The tragi-comedy of foolishness from the hacks in TrumpWorld as coronavirus got worse today, and the stock market matched the wreckage.

You can trace the start of today's meltdown to our President talking out of his backside while in India overnight, in a pathetic attempt to soothe the stock market.

...Trump spoke about the coronavirus at a news conference in India, saying it is "very well under control in our country."

"I think that whole situation will start working out. Lot of talent, a lot of brainpower is being put behind it," Trump said.

The DOW Jones Industrial Average was poised to start the day up by around 100 points after Monday's 1,000+ point selloff, but quickly turned negative as it became obvious that coronavirus is still spreading, with nearly 80,000 infected worldwide.

And then the person in charge of organizing immunization strategies at the (gutted) Centers for Disease Control made a classic gaffe, meaning she told the truth. While Trump was saying "all was well", this person was saying things were in no way OK.

"Ultimately we expect we will see community spread in this country," Dr. Nancy Messonier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters on a conference call. While the CDC has been preparing for a possible outbreak, Messonier said hospitals and schools should be doing the same.

"These are things that people need to start thinking about now," Messonier said. "We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad."

Soon after Messonier was giving her warning of "community spread" in America, another Trump official went on TV and said there was nothing to worry about.

The U.S. has “contained” the coronavirus, NEC Director Larry Kudlow says. “Pretty close to airtight.” https://t.co/LJKSIghL7q pic.twitter.com/mkRzCrHMM1

— CNBC (@CNBC) February 25, 2020

How would a hedge funder like Larry Coke-blow have a clue about whether the virus is contained? Where'd he get his medical degree, Trump University?

As usual, when Larry Kudlow says something, YOU RUN THE OTHER WAY. As Kudlow BSed on CNBC, the DOW was down around 580 points. An hour later, it was down 930, and ended up closing with a decline of 879 points, bringing the 2-day decline to more than 1,900.



A couple of headlines from overseas with relatively small effects on the US economy in the near-term causes the market to tank? If that isn't proof we were in a stupid Bubble, nothing does. And now people are cashing in profits and running to safety now that there isn't "hope and optimism" to hide the lack of fundamental growth in our economy.

Another tell that the markets aren't trusting our economy is that longer-term interest rates continue to plummet. Look at what the 2-year note has done in the last week.

That's a drop of nearly 25 basis points, and at times today, there were companies and people figuring that getting less than 1.2% for each of the next 2 years (before inflation, mind you) was a better bet than the stock market or other options. That sure seems like a bad sign for the rest of the economy from the allegedly smart money.

The thing is, we still don't know how much coronavirus might damage our economy, if it damages it at all. Yes, a disruption in the supply chain can be a significant issue, and if a company has significant exports to Asia, that seems like a problem. But there haven't been many cases, and fear and uncertainty could be a bigger concern than any actual decline in capacity or output.

But what it does show is that the Trump Administration has far from "the best people" on the case, nor will they make the effort to invest in the human and financial resources to make sure they can get the best response to a crisis. Which is what happens when you a corporate executive who values ass-kissing over competence, and a GOP that values political poses over positive results.

Now combine that with the fact that the plummeting stock market shows that the "Trump economy" is a hollow shell that really doesn't have a lot of actual strength left in it, and that we are increasingly likely to be slowing down that speeding up in 2020. Not a pair of good arguments to give to the voting public in November, for an Administration that has few positive arguments to make outside of our overstimulated, Bubbly economy.