Trump says crashing markets good for consumers, blames Russia, Saudi Arabia and Fake News

US President Donald Trump can’t seem to decide whether a sudden, massive drop in oil prices is good or bad for the country, so he’s hedged his bets on Twitter, suggesting it’s “Good for the consumer” but bad for markets.

Blaming the “market drop” on “Saudi Arabia and Russia…arguing over the price and flow of oil” in a Monday morning tweet, the president whipsawed around and - within the same minute! - bragged that the resulting chaos was “good for the consumer,” because gas prices would go down.

Trump also blamed the “fake news,” presumably referring to coverage of the coronavirus epidemic, for the market’s downfall. The president has been doggedly attempting to stem public panic over the virus, insisting since it was first detected in the US that his administration had things under control.

While OPEC agreed last week to further cut oil production in an effort to keep prices up amid low demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak, Russia disagreed, recommending prolonging existing cuts instead. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia suggested increasing oil production instead, even offering its oil at a discount in an effort to lure buyers. Oil prices dropped 30 percent going into Monday, and the wider markets are reeling from the shock.

The Dow was down 6.4 percent on Monday, approaching its worst performance since the 2008 financial crash, and the selling frenzy triggered a 15-minute “circuit breaker” halt to trading less than an hour after the opening bell. Markets continued to slide, however, with the Dow at one point down 2,000 points. It was the first time the “circuit breaker” measure had been triggered in its current form since it was put in place in February 2013.

The president’s indecisiveness was met with derision by the tweeting masses, who pointed out that he’d essentially pegged his presidency’s success to the stock market by constant harping on the rising Dow.

Others pointed out that the falling stocks were bad for savings...

...and suggested gas prices would be a meaningless barometer if things continued to slide downhill.

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