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Jobs, Factories and Stocks Provide Economic Lift for Trump - The New York Times

posted onAugust 5, 2017
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Article snippet: A stock market hitting record highs. Foreign corporations announcing big new plants in the United States. And robust hiring that has brought the unemployment rate to a 16-year low. That convergence added up to a solid economic report card on Friday that President Trump was happy to present to the nation as a sign of good work. On the hiring front, the Labor Department reported that 209,000 jobs were added in July, somewhat above Wall Street economists’ expectations, with the unemployment rate matching May’s 4.3 percent, the lowest since early 2001. Hours earlier, two Japanese automotive giants, Toyota and Mazda, said they would open a new factory at an undetermined United States location that will employ about 4,000 workers, a trophy in Mr. Trump’s campaign to reverse the flight of American manufacturing jobs. And while the stock market had a relatively quiet day, the Dow Jones industrial average reached another high, two days after it closed above 22,000 for the first time. As all that positive economic news ricocheted through Wall Street, on social media and around office cubicles, conversation inevitably turned to one question: How much credit does Mr. Trump deserve? In a series of early-morning tweets, the president claimed quite a bit. On the hiring news, he declared, “Excellent Jobs Numbers just released — and I have only just begun.” Earlier, in addition to saluting the “great investment” by Toyota and Mazda, he noted, “Consumer confidence is at a 16 year ... Link to the full article to read more

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