Please Stop Pretending that Donald Trump’s Every Utterance Has Magic Powers

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Yesterday Donald Trump said he thought the dollar was “too strong.” Today the Wall Street Journal goes into overdrive to describe the effect of the great man’s words:

Trump Comments Send Dollar Reeling

Reeling! Is that true? Well, the Journal’s own dollar index fell about 1 percent, and sure, that’s a fair amount for a single day. But let’s take a look at the Journal’s index for the entire period since Trump’s election:

Hmmm. The dollar steadily gained strength following Trump’s election based on expectations of his economic and trade policy. Then it started sliding around the start of the new year. Its latest 1 percent drop is hardly significant: it’s dropped that much in a single day before, and it’s still up significantly since Trump’s election. And in case you’re curious, here’s a longer-term view:

So did Trump’s words have a galvanizing effect on the world’s currency traders? It’s possible, but we might want to wait a few days before we say so. There are other things going on in the world too, after all.