Here's one source's assessment at one year....



https://www.factcheck.org/2018/01/trumps-numbers/

MARKETWATCH: Dow closes above 25,000 while Nasdaq finishes at a record as stocks rally, Mar 9, 2018

The Dow closed back above 25,000 and the Nasdaq ended at a record on Friday as Wall Street appeared to shake off worries about tariffs on steel and aluminum to focus on an unexpectedly strong jobs report.

The U.S. created 313,000 new jobs in February, the biggest gain since mid-2016 and a reflection of the strongest labor market in two decades. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 222,000 increase in nonfarm jobs. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%. Hourly pay rose 4 cents, or 0.1%, to $26.75 an hour, the government said Friday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had been expecting average hourly earnings to have risen 0.2%, after a 0.3% gain in January, with an overall jobs gain of 220,000. The subdued rise in wage growth for the month helped to ease worries about runaway inflation.
What did the main benchmarks do?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.77% surged 440.53 points, or 1.8%, to end at 25,335.74 for a weekly gain of 3.3%. This is the first time the blue-chip index closed above 25,000 since Feb. 28.

The S&P 500 index SPX, +1.74% climbed 47.60 points, or 1.7%, to close at 2,786.57, ending the week 3.5% higher. Financials, industrials and technology sectors all rallied more than 2%.

The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +1.79% added 132.86 points, or 1.8%, to finish at 7,560.81, up 4.2% for the week. The index hadn’t closed at a record or set an intraday mark since Jan. 26.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 index advanced 0.5%, while the Dow industrials and Nasdaq rose 0.4% each. The gains came as the markets took positively the news that President Donald Trump signed a steel and aluminum tariff proclamation, but allowed for some exemptions.

What drove the markets?

Investors had been apprehensive after January’s upbeat jobs report was blamed for a meltdown by stocks last month. Investors are wary of signs that the U.S. labor market is tightening up, but the February wage figures appeared to be more muted than January’s report, market participants said.

Rapidly rising inflation could also add pressure on the Federal Reserve to speed up its rate rises, which could strangle the stock market.

Data released earlier in the week showed private-sector employers added a stronger-than-expected 235,000 jobs.

Markets appeared to largely dismiss news that Trump has accepted an invitation to meet North Korea’s leader. The meeting could be held as early as May, according to a senior South Korean official who made the announcement at the White House on Thursday evening. But the news did give Korean stocks a boost.

Investors were also still taking in reaction to Trump’s tariff announcement, which weighed on Korean steelmakers in Asia.
What were strategists saying?

“You’re getting strong jobs with not a lot of wage growth, which is perfect below expectations. And that’s what’s sort of powering the futures right. It’s the best of both worlds,” said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist at SlateStone Wealth.

“If you had tried to concoct an event that would be good news for the economy and good for the markets, you would come up with the kind of jobs report that we got today: solid headline number with only moderate wage growth,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco.

“For a labor market that we are told is rather tight this is quite a big number and the fact that we saw wage growth slow to 2.6% from 2.9% would suggest that there is much more slack in this particular jobs market than most people think,” wrote Michael Hewson, chief market analyst, at CMC Markets UK, in a Friday note.

“This would suggest that those calls for four rate rises this year may well be a little bit premature, particularly when you see the participation rate jump from 62.7% to 63%, as more people return to the workforce,” Hewson said.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-sto...gins-2018-03-09