Wall Street, Climbing Sharply, Skips Washington’s ‘Soap Opera’<br />Our best guess is that the next 5 percent move is more likely to be down than up.”<br />Investors have also voiced concerns that trading has been unusually placid — volatility recently sank to a two-decade low,<br />and Wall Street has not had a correction, usually defined as a drop of 10 percent or more, since early 2016.<br />The initial stock market rally that followed Mr. Trump’s victory in November — the so-called Trump bump — was fueled by optimism among investors<br />that long-sought action on tax reform and infrastructure spending might finally be at hand.<br />“The first six months of the year have been the best period for earnings growth<br />since 2011,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors.<br />At the same time, with yields on safe assets like government bonds so minuscule, there are few appealing alternatives<br />to stocks for investors, according to Torsten Slok, chief international economist at Deutsche Bank.<br />“When Washington practices the Hippocratic oath toward business — first, do no harm — it’s amazing what the American economy can do,” he said.<br />The year began with Mr. Trump promising to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act; pass the most significant overhaul to the tax code since 1986;<br />and get Congress to pass legislation to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.<br />Despite the disorder in Washington — with a revolving door at the White House<br />and roadblocks on Capitol Hill — Wall Street and corporate America are booming.
