Dr. Peter Navarro, Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy (OTMP), made bold predictions for the stock market and the U.S. economy in 2020 this week, saying that both are poised to have big years due to the Trump administration’s policies.
On Tuesday, Navarro told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he predicts “at least 32,000 on the Dow” in 2020.
"I'm seeing at least 32,000 on the Dow" in 2020, says White House adviser Peter Navarro pic.twitter.com/J960Wre9Ay
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) December 31, 2019
Speaking Thursday on Fox News, Navarro made further predictions for the U.S. economy, saying that a number of factors that are coming together are going to make for a strong U.S. economy in 2020.
“Hey, my forecast streak is on the line here. the day after the election, I said $25,000 on the Dow, everybody said I was crazy,” Navarro said. “July, I said 30,000 on the Dow if we got USMCA passes and interest rates down. 330 points today, we are getting closer to that.”
“I am bullish and the reason why I’m bullish is because of the underlying strength of the GDP growth engine. It’s one of the four things that drive this economy: consumption, investment, government spending, and exports,” Navarro said. “Every one of those under President Donald J. Trump is hitting on all cylinders. You know, the consumer low unemployment, rising wages, high optimism, that’s going to be the anchor of 2020, but we also have five trade deals that are going to kick in and force in 2020 with Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, and China. Score that for exports.”
WATCH:
Dr. Peter Navarro, Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy (OTMP), highlights how strong the Trump economy is right now. pic.twitter.com/JGwwJJBFPg
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) January 3, 2020
“Here’s my sleeper, there wasn’t enough attention paid to passage the appropriations bill and National Defense Authorization Act a couple weeks ago, that is a built-in beautiful fiscal floor for growth in 2020,” Navarro continued. “And of course, investment which lacked a bit in 2019, it’s coming in the greatest economy in the world right now and the trade policy encourages it to come here because people know they want production here and if we don’t get it they get tariffs.”
Navarro later weighed in on “smart money” saying that increased government spending was a “ticking time bomb,” saying, “Until you see the bond market tell you it’s a ticking bomb, it ain’t a ticking time bomb. It’s basically putting in a beautiful fiscal floor to grow. And, you know, as the director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, I’m particularly heartened by the nature of those expenditures because we got a really solid defense budget now. And, you know, I go around the country, places like the Philly Shipyard or the combat vehicle plants in, like, Lima, Ohio, or York, Pennsylvania, the shipbuilding up in Marinette, Wisconsin, these are the places where line item by line item in the defense budget, the blue wall states. The Midwest is absolutely booming.”
Navarro later predicted that American businesses are going to “unleash” in their spending in 2020.
“I think they’re going to unleash. I think what turned things around, Charles, was that jobs report, that blow-out jobs report, which basically finished off any doubt that we were going to have a good 2020,” Navarro said. “And again, you know, the smart money is going to look at what I told you about with that government spending with the appropriations bill.”