President Donald Trump has spared no opportunity to brag about the surging stock market in recent days. He has a point. It took the market almost 100 years to reach 5,000. It’s grown more than 5,000 points in Trump’s first year in office.
But looking at percentage growth might be a better way to compare with the first years of presidents in decades past. The figures are still impressive for Trump: Growth during his first year in office to this point surpasses 17 of his predecessors since the Dow Jones industrial average was first formed in 1896 — trailing only Barack Obama, Harry Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The stock market has climbed 27% since Trump was sworn in nearly a year ago. On average, the stock market has grown 10% to this point in a new president’s term. (It’s worth noting these numbers can jump around by a percentage point or more from day to day based on the ebbs and flows of the market.)
“I don’t know if you heard the latest, but the market is up about 150 points. And we broke a very, very big barrier — 25,000,” Trump said Thursday. “So I guess our new number is 30,000. But what it means is every time you see that number go up on Wall Street it means jobs, it means success. It means 401(k)s that are flourishing.”
Trump tweeted on Friday morning, praising the stock market’s latest climb as the fastest jump of 1,000 points in the market’s history. Economists have pushed back that the market is driven by forces well beyond a president’s control and that stock market growth during a president’s first year can be attributed in large part to the previous officeholder.
New jobs numbers released Friday showed the country added 2 million jobs in 2017 — another robust year of growth and a reason for Trump to tout the strong economy, but the rate of job growth is down slightly from the last several years.
Note: This chart displays the change in the closing value of the Dow Jones industrial average from each new president’s first day of active stock market trading while in office through the 242nd day of active trading, via FactSet.