Trump rally stalled by Trump

THE Trump rally was going strong until Donald Trump opened his mouth.

Now, it appears, the rally has stalled, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing for the fourth straight week within 250 points of the 20,000 mark. The Dow looked set to break through the psychological barrier on Wednesday, led by the stocks that had run up because of the president-elect's promises on infrastructure investments and regulatory rollbacks - miners, machinery makers and banks. But all those sectors slid on Thursday after the president-elect held his first press conference since the summer. The wobbles may be forgotten this week but could return after Mr Trump's inauguration.

The event provided little of the legislative programme that investors awaited; at times, it devolved into a shouting match between Mr Trump and a CNN newsman, who the incoming president castigated for coverage of his alleged Russian links. The only specifics Mr Trump provided were denials of the salacious allegations from the leaked "dossier". On the economy, Mr Trump made vague promises about how the US government would "start bidding" for pharmaceuticals. That caused a plunge in the price of drug stocks as it sounded like Mr Trump was going to change the way pharmaceutical companies bid for government business.