2017 markets await Trump's pro-business policies

THE running joke in liberal circles is that 2017 can't be any worse than 2016.

For the stock market, however, it's hard to imagine 2017 being any better than this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the year with a gain of about 14 per cent, the biggest since 2013, which leaves it about 140 points below the 20,000 level. That may not be a spectacular showing but consider the backdrop - slowing economic growth and relatively rich valuations (at more than 20-times earnings, the Dow is closer to historical peaks than troughs) - and it looks like a tough act to follow. Consider also that the year's gain is almost entirely attributable to the "Trump bump" - after all, the Dow was more or less flat for the year to date when the election took place.