President Donald Trump on Monday talked up the growth in the value of retirement accounts as he tweeted and made comments that suggested a trade deal with China was more likely than not.
PRESIDENT MENTIONS 401(K) GROWTH
Trump tweeted “great news for your 401(k)s” — 52% of Americans hold retirement accounts, according to the Federal Reserve survey of consumer finances — as he cited data about Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.33% and Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.49% performance since the presidential election.
Since my election as President the Dow Jones is up 43% and the NASDAQ Composite almost 50%. Great news for your 401(k)s as they continue to grow. We are bringing back America faster than anyone thought possible!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019
According to Fidelity Investments, the average 401(k) balance climbed from $90,800 in the third quarter of 2016 — about a week before Trump was elected — to $95,600 at the end of 2018. Those balances are probably substantially higher, given the U.S. stock market rally in 2019, in large part because of hopes for a U.S.-China trade accord. U.S. stocks SPX, +0.20% climbed on Monday as well.
The president had financial prices on his mind on Monday as he tweeted that oil prices CLJ9, -3.30% were “getting too high” — a complaint he’s made on several occasions — as he called on the OPEC oil cartel to “please relax and take it easy.” Energy analyst John Kemp points out that Trump’s complaints about oil prices are occurring at lower levels.
U.S. PRESIDENT TRUMP is taking an increasingly tough line on oil prices with Saudi Arabia, with the president's twitter interventions occurring at lower prices. The president now calling on Saudi Arabia to keep oil prices down when they are in the $60s rather than $70s or $80s: pic.twitter.com/P5HOObIXoW
— John Kemp (@JKempEnergy) February 25, 2019
Read: Trump says oil prices are ‘getting too high,’ urges OPEC to ‘relax’ — and futures tank
CHINA DEAL TALK
Trump told a gathering of governors at the White House that he’d hold a summit to sign a trade pact with China, a day after he said he was postponing a planned increase on tariffs on certain Chinese goods.
Calling both sides “very, very close” to a deal, Trump cautioned a deal still may not happen but said, “I think it’s going to happen and it could happen fairly soon. The relationship is great.”
The president tweeted on Sunday night that he decided to postpone a planned increase in tariffs on Chinese goods, from 10% to 25%, because of “very productive” talks on structural issues including intellectual property protection and technology transfer.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Beijing has offered to increase purchases of U.S. farm and energy products, ease restrictions on U.S. financial services firms and auto manufacturers and improve protection of intellectual property, but hasn’t given much ground on government support to state-owned companies.
TRUMP REPEATS LAVAR BALL CRITICISM
In discussing China, Trump repeated his complaint about failing to get credit for helping to release UCLA basketball players accused of stealing.
Recalling a conversation Trump had with Xi Jinping, the president said: “And I said, ‘It would be a great thing if you could possible let them out?’ He goes, ‘So be it. They’re out.’ I said, ‘is this different than our country, eh? Just a little bit different?’ And we got them out. Then we came back and the one father said, ‘Well we don’t know that Trump helped. I sent a consultant.’ That consultant would have gotten nowhere.”
LaVar Ball, the loquacious father of three basketball-playing children, wouldn’t thank Trump for helping free his son LiAngelo, though he did reportedly send the president sneakers from his ill-fated line called ZO2s.
Trump also took umbrage with Spike Lee over the director’s speech at the Academy Awards for winning best adapted screenplay, in which Lee noted the election was “around the corner” as he called for people to be on the right side of history. Trump on Twitter called the African-American’s speech “racist,” and the teleprompter-using commander-in-chief also criticized Lee for using notes.
Also read: Harry Reid says he has trouble accepting Trump ‘as a person’
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