Yesterday’s market rally was initiated after Donald Trump stepped up on his coronavirus rhetoric and pledged to increase the fiscal stimulus in the states.
He is doing so in a bid to help the reeling American economy and offset the real danger of a new recession. So far, Trump has been vague about the precise nature of his envisioned support package; however, the one certain thing is that he wants to implement a new payroll tax cut.
His general idea is to bolster the confidence of US consumers by providing them with more incentives to increase their spending rate. On a question regarding the US’s preparedness to fight the epidemic and its economic fallout, Trump retorted by stating that:
“The consumer is ready, and the consumer is so powerful in our country with what we’ve done with tax cuts and regulation cuts and all of those things. The consumer has never been in a better position than they are right now.”
Promises of tax relief and increased fiscal stimulus are a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA agenda, which is structured to appeal to America’s middle class. His efforts to circumvent further stock market routs are carried out with one eye on the upcoming presidential election in November.
Ronald Reagan’s great economist, the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, has just said great things about a Payroll Tax Cut!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 10, 2020
Meanwhile, it is yet unclear as to how bolstered fiscal policy is going to function in accordance with the looser monetary policy, the FED recently implemented.
The US aggregate government spending equalled 4.60 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product in 2019. This was the fifth consecutive rise in government spending on a year-to-year basis.
Bolstered fiscal stimulus at the present rate would likely increase the government budget’s deficit, which is already running high. Thereby, the coronavirus’ fallout on growth poses a real threat of a potential new recession.
Regardless, the S&P 500 corrected nearly 5 per cent of the previous market rout in yesterday’s trading session, on investors’ slightly more optimistic outlook.
It is yet to be seen whether Trump’s pledges to increase the government support for the economy would be able to sustain the positive momentum, or the selloff would ultimately prevail.