Just out of curiosity, I compared the change in the Dow Jones Industrial Average over roughly the first nine months since Trump’s 2024 election (meaning, up to yesterday’s [August 7th’s] close) with the change in the DJIA over the same time period since Trump’s 2016 election.
On election day 2024 (November 5th) the DJIA closed at 42,221.88; yesterday, August 7th, 2025, the DJIA closed at 43,968.64.
On election day 2016 (November 8th), the DJIA closed at 18,332.74; on August 10th, 2017, the DJIA closed at 21,844.01.
In the nine months since Trump was elected in 2016, the DJIA rose by 19.2%.
In the nine months since Trump was elected in 2024, the DJIA rose by 4.1%.
Make of this fact what you will.
I myself don’t make too much of it as the U.S. economy is huge and dynamic and is affected by many forces, with government policy being only one (although a uniquely important one). Yet I also don’t believe that these figures are without any information content.
