President Trump has been busy tweeting about why "trade wars are good," celebrating a series of good economic reports — and criticizing Alec Baldwin for his "terrible impersonation of me" on "Saturday Night Live."
But the commander-in-chief has been notably quiet on Twitter about something that used to be one of his favorite topics — the stock market.
The last time Trump posted about the market was more than three weeks ago, on February 7.
Trump used to tout every new record for the Dow and often took credit for the market's bull run.
CNN counted more than 60 tweets since the beginning of 2017 in which the president celebrated the market's gains and one new record high after another.
But it's probably no coincidence that Trump stopped tweeting about the stock market right about when the market had its first big sell-off in more than a year. The Dow fell by 1,000-points twice in a single week.
His February 7 tweet about the market was defensive. Trump said it was a "big mistake" for the market to go down on good economic news.
Prior to that, you have to go back to January 20 for the last time that Trump wrote a tweet about how well stocks were doing, citing "unprecedented success" and a "record stock market."
But Trump hasn't stopped tweeting about other aspects of the economy. That might be a smart move.
Many experts have noted how most average Americans don't benefit from the stock market's rise, since only half of American families hold stocks in their retirement accounts.
The real winners from the nine-year bull market are the nation's wealthiest — which includes President Trump. About 10% of households owned 84% of all stocks in 2016, according to NYU professor Edward Wolff.
So it makes sense to talk less about the market — even if it starts to climb again — and focus on things in the real economy that matter more to most Americans.
And Trump's correct that there have been some solid reports worth cheering, particularly when it comes to jobs, manufacturing and consumer sentiment and spending.
Still, it's also worth pointing out that the health of the economy — and fears that it might overheat due to tax reform and other stimulus — are helping to drag the market lower.
For one, the market's major downturn in February was in part because the broader economy's strength could lead to higher inflation and more rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
Trump's tough talk on trade is hurting the market too. But the president is spinning the tariffs as something that will benefit US businesses and workers — even though it actually may do the opposite by hurting big multinational companies that employ many American workers.
