How Wall Streeters Feel Right Now

I rarely collect anecdotes or blind quotes from people for this site, but I found this interesting…

“So what do you think?” is the way every conversation seems to start with my friends on The Street. You already know what they’re talking about without it having been said. “Is this guy gonna blow up the world or save it?”

Basically, it’s a mixture of optimism and fear. All the investment guys want the tax cuts and repatriation to happen. They want the 4% GDP growth. They want the infrastructure push to actually work. But, they’re definitely afraid. They don’t like the tweets, the executive orders, the daily mass protests or the shady people who seem to be accumulating power and influence.

Here are some comments from these conversations, I’m keeping them anonymous but they’re all from investment industry people over the last week or so:

“Why is the President of the United States on Twitter more than I am?”

“The irony is that he could be one of the great presidents if he does his policies, except for all the other stuff…”

“Who the f*** is this Steve O’Banyan guy? What’s the deal with that dude? I didn’t vote for him…”

“Thank god he didn’t do the anti-gay thing. The country would have shut down, literally.”

“You have to ignore the media, they’re hysterical. Journalists hate anyone who they think they’re smarter than and keep getting beat by.”

“People are scared. They feel like they lived in one country and then everything changed overnight.”

“Trump made my year last year, but I’d give it all back if he would just go away at this point.”

“The Russia thing. If they invade Ukraine and Trump says ‘it’s fine’ the market’s going to crash.”

“Scaramucci and Gary Cohn are the new Plunge Protection Team. They won’t let him crash the market.”

“If he loses the stock market, it’s over, he’s done.” 

“Nobody’s going to give a sh*t about anything if the economy starts ripping and people are getting rich. All this other stuff will go away.”