Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that the steep drop in the stock market is probably just part of routine fluctuations on Wall Street.
Monday’s sell-off “represents what is, very likely, simply the ebb and flow of our stock markets, and we recognize that,” Mr. Pence told reporters in Alaska, on his way to leading a U.S. delegation at the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
“The most important numbers to focus on are the fundamentals,” Mr. Pence said. “And the fundamentals of this economy continue to be very strong.”
He noted that employers added 200,000 jobs in January and that unemployment is at a 17-year low. Mr. Pence said the “most encouraging” statistic for him is that wages rose 2.9 percent.
The Dow Jones fell nearly 1,200 points on Monday, losing more than 4 percent of its value amid fears of higher interest rates and worries that stock prices are overvalued.
Mr. Pence noted that the market has been on an historic rise for more than a year.
“We couldn’t be more proud of the fact that the stock market has increased by thousands of points since Election Day 2016,” he said.
He said Americans can be confident that “this economy is on the move and they can be confident that the president is going to continue to advance the kinds of policies — rolling back excessive taxes, regulations, freeing up access to American energy like ANWR here in Alaska — that are going to continue to contribute to that very real momentum that is obvious in the fundamentals of our economy today.”
The president and Congress have approved oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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