The Stock Market Under Obama
As of yesterday, with a closing mark of 9,539.29, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up:
- 20.0 percent since Barack Obama's inauguration (7,949.09 on 20 January)
- 26.3 percent since the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (7,552.60 on 17 February)
- 45.7 percent since the market's low point this year (6547.05 on 9 March)
In case you're curious, by my calculations, the Dow Jones rose 228.2 percent during the eight years of the Clinton administration; rose 45.4 percent during the four years of the first Bush administration; and rose 130.6 percent during the eight years of the Reagan administration.
Am I suggesting that presidents be judged by the performance of the stock market during their terms? No. But I do wonder how it is that Democrats are still seen by many as bad for business. At least one important type of empirical evidence would suggest otherwise.