The stock market has been on a roll, and politicians are vying to take credit for it.
In December and January, the S&P 500, a broad market gauge, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both closed at all-time highs for the first time in about two years.
On ABC’s “This Week,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg countered that President Joe Biden, not Trump, deserves credit for the stock market rise.
However, Buttigieg was wrong about Trump’s tenure. Trump saw stock market records set during his term, too.
The stock market can be driven by investor perceptions and crowd psychology rather than by economic data alone, which means that caution is necessary when using it to gauge the broader economy. Still, it usually has some connection to economic reality, and at the very least, many Americans have investments in the stock market, so the market’s health can influence economic perceptions.
The S&P 500 tracks 500 of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States. The value rises or falls based on the latest prices for those 500 stocks during weekday trading sessions. Over time, this and other stock metrics tend to rise, although not without periods in which the metric falls.
Under Biden, the S&P 500 has also hit new highs.
The metric experienced several new peaks in Biden’s first year in office, 2021, before declining for most of 2022. The market recovered in 2023 — enough to blow past its previous record and set new ones into early 2024.
Currently, the S&P 500 is hovering around 5,100, which, despite the year-long slide in 2022, is well above what it was at the end of Trump’s term. That’s not surprising for the S&P 500: Barring an economic calamity, most presidents see higher stock prices than their predecessor did.
“The stock market hit its highest point ever under President Biden, higher than at any point during the previous administration,” Sean Manning, a Transportation Department spokesman, told PolitiFact.
PolitiFact ruling
Buttigieg said the stock market “hit an all-time high under President Biden and not under President Trump.”
The S&P 500 recently hit record highs under Biden, as it did several times in 2021.
But the S&P 500 also set multiple records during Trump’s presidency, even after the coronavirus pandemic hit.
We rate the statement Mostly False.
