Donald Trump’s decision to sell his stock holdings in June means he missed out on steady Wall Street gains that have boosted the savings of ordinary Americans. Moreover, he missed the Trump Rally.
Trump’s spokesman Jason Miller on Tuesday surprised reporters with the revelation that the president-elect had sold off all his stock holdings back in June. There was no way to independently confirm this.
The president-elect didn’t reveal that during the Sept. 26 presidential debate, when he described the stock-market as a “big fat, ugly bubble.”
Here’s what Trump has missed out since selling his stocks. Since June 2, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 7.92 percent, the S&P 500 has gained 5.13 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up by 7.27 percent.
Based on his May 16, 2016, filing with the Federal Election Commission, Trump disclosed that he had upwards of $38 million invested in publicly traded stocks of big-name companies such as Boeing, Walmart, McDonald’s and Apple.
If he sold all that stock, it means he missed out on healthy returns. And, he missed out on what’s now being called the Trump Rally.
Since the Nov. 8 election through Tuesday, the Dow was up 5.01 percent, the S&P 500 was up 3.44 percent and the Nasdaq gained 2.69 percent.
Ordinary investors have retirement savings generally invested in funds that track the major stock indices. For the investors that ignored Trump’s warnings since mid- 2015 of a stock-market bubble, this has been a good year.
From Jan. 4 through Dec. 6, the Dow gained 12.26 percent, the S&P 500 gained 9.96 percent and the Nasdaq was up 8.77 percent.
Historically, stocks held 10 years or longer average a return on investment of 7 percent.
There could be a silver lining for the president-elect. His disclosure form shows multiple millions of dollars tied up in hedge funds that invest in the stock market. His transition team did not answer questions of whether Trump sold those stakes too, but if he still has them, he’d still be winning.
Kevin G. Hall: 202-383-6038, @KevinGHall