Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs greets lawmakers before Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivered his State of the State and budget address in front of the General Assembly at the Illinois Capitol on Feb. 21, 2024. touting a record $130 million in earnings for the state’s investment portfolio during May. That’s a great return for a single month, and Frerichs’ efforts to take credit settle a nagging question.
U.S. stocks and bonds weathered the pandemic much better than those of other wealthy nations. Since mid-2020, as U.S. performance rebounded from the initial shock of COVID-19, money has poured in from foreign investors who consider America’s prospects a lot better than those of their home countries. In Thursday’s debate between a doddering President Joe Biden and a ranting ex-President Donald Trump, the candidates voiced very different takes on the economy and markets. Trump took credit for ceding to Biden “a country where the stock market was higher than pre-COVID,” while Biden countered that the economy he inherited “was in free fall,” going on to suggest he corrected it.
Biden, who has seen plenty of big-mouth politicians come and go, long avoided touting financial market gains. In the early years of his presidency, he emphasized the contrast with Trump’s approach. “I don’t look at the stock market as a means by which to judge the economy like my predecessor did,” he said in 2021.