Will White House Worries Hit Stocks?

Forget parallels to Watergate. The economy is in much better shape today.

- Anne Kates Smith

Investors are wondering if the stock market’s Trump bump could morph into the Trump slump as questions continue to swirl around the White House regarding its Russia connections. It’s a high-stakes concern. Since President Trump’s election in November, stocks have risen 14% on high hopes for the president’s pro-business agenda, which includes corporate tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks. But policy has been overshadowed by probes in Congress and in the Justice Department.

In mid May, investors got an inkling of the havoc a White House–related bombshell can wreak. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged nearly 400 points following reports that Trump had urged FBI director James Comey (whom Trump later fired) to shut down an investigation of his former national security adviser, and a special counsel was named to oversee the investigation into Russian ties to Trump’s campaign.