WASHINGTON (TNND) — Secretary Scott Bessent of the Department of the Treasury said Sunday that concerns over the stock market are driven by the press.
He told ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz during an interview on the network that, as an example, there was a story published earlier this month about how this month was the worst April for the market since the Great Depression. There haven’t been any follow-up articles on how the market has improved in the past couple of weeks though, according to Bessent.
“When I look at the – some of the things that are being published – there was a story 10 days ago that said this is the worst April for the stock markets since the Great Depression. Ten days later, the NASDAQ is now up on the month of April, and I haven’t seen a story that says, ‘Oh, stock market has biggest bounce-back ever,’” the secretary said, before Raddatz began interrupting. “So … I think a lot of this is media-driven.”
While it’s unclear what article Bessent was referring to, The Wall Street Journal published a story last week about how the Dow Jones Industrial Average was projected to have its worst April performance since 1932. The index was at 38,170.41 points on April 21, when the newspaper put out its story. It was one of the lowest levels since last June, second only to the 37,645.59 mark on April 8.
Raddatz cited the results of a poll during the interview that showed more than 70% of Americans said it was likely President Donald Trump’s policies would cause a recession. Bessent, noting he has to “dig down” into surveys on the policies, told the correspondent he prefers to examine what Americans are doing with their money rather than look at how they are responding to polls.
“What I do know is that Americans are behaving very different than what the surveys say. So, the surveys may say that, but consumers are still spending,” Bessent explained.
CNBC reported on Wednesday that consumers had been spending at a higher rate in the first half of this month than in the same period of April 2024. The news outlet, citing data from J.P. Morgan, said spending increased 3.8%. Spending in March, though, grew 2.7% from March of last year, according to CNBC.
Have questions, concerns or tips? Send them to Ray at rjlewis@sbgtv.com.