THE RISING ECONOMY – AT 11:33 A.M. ET:  There is a Trump effect.  As readers know, I didn't support Trump for the nomination, and was at best lukewarm about his candidacy.  But there is clearly a Trump effect on the economy, and it is good.  And we are happy to report it.  From IBD:

Growth: For eight years, economic indicators repeatedly came below forecasts. Now, there's been a string of reports — the latest one is on jobs — that have outperformed economist predictions. What's changed, we wonder?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that the economy added 235,000 jobs in February, when economists expected 200,000 new jobs. And that comes after January's 227,000 gain, which also beat economists' forecasts by a substantial margin.

That's not all. Other recent indicators have come in better than economists had expected.

Orders for capital goods were higher in December than forecast.

There were supposed to be 5.55 million existing-home sales in January. The actual number was close to 5.7 million — which was the highest level since 2007.

Retail sales in January climbed 0.4%, where economists had predicted they'd advance only 0.1%. At the same time, the Commerce Department revised the December sales increase upward to 1%.

Now, obviously we can't draw any broad conclusions from a few unexpectedly good economic results.

But it's worth pointing out that this is a dramatic change from the Obama years, when about the only thing that you could predict with any degree of accuracy was that the economy would underperform economists' predictions.

And...

Trump's pro-growth agenda marks a dramatic turnaround from the Obama years. And as a direct result, a multitude of surveys have shown a huge increase in optimism among business owners, investors, and the public at large. The National Federation of Independent Business' small business optimism index hit a 12-year high in January. The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index was the highest it's been since October 2004. The Dow has gained nearly 17% since the November elections.

COMMENT:  The election changed the business psychology, and that is showing up in a number of economic areas.  Next up should be tax cuts for the American people.

We look forward to Trump's first real State of the Union message next January.  I want to see some serious gloating.

March 11,  2017