MARKET CALL: Wall Street Is Main Street

Conspiracy theories are usually wrong even though they seem to explain a lot. The latest conspiracy theory floating on social media is that President Donald Trump is causing a recession to bring interest rates down to reduce the federal government's net interest outlays and to lower mortgage rates to make homes more affordable. A recession would also weaken the foreign exchange value of the dollar, which would boost exports and depress imports. Trump's tariffs should force manufacturers to move to the US and reduce foreign demand for American farm products, which would lower food prices in the US. What about the stock market crash? Not that many Americans own stocks, according to this conspiracy theory.

Sounds nuts to us! However, on April 4 at 8:25 am, Trump reposted a TikTok video on his Truth Social that follows this script! The original tweet noted, "Trump is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers." The video concludes that Trump is "taking from the rich short-term and handing it to the middle class through lower prices."