June 9 (UPI) — The testimony of former FBI Director James Comey may have had many Americans expecting evidence that would lead to President Donald Trump‘s downfall, but Wall Street wasn’t unnerved as the Dow Jones index hit a record high.
The Dow climbed 68 points, about 0.3 percent, to hit 21,242 at intra-day trading. That jump was enough to eclipse the previous intraday record high of 21,176.
“The Dow hits an all-time high during the Comey lovefest. Investors not unnerved by what they’re hearing today. #ComeyDay,” tweeted Fox News Business anchor Dagen McDowell.
“There were no major bombshells from Comey’s testimony,” investment strategist Lindsey Bell told CNBC.
The news was championed by Trump supporters as proof the president did nothing wrong in firing Comey amidst an FBI investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
“Dow hits new all time high today… seems the markets don’t buy the [mainstream media and Democratic] narrative,” tweeted Donald Trump, Jr.
“The market has responded to James Comey. Dow is up! Why? Trump was vindicated today,” tweeted conservative political commentator Adam D. Brown.
Although critics portrayed Comey’s testimony as damaging to the president, investors said there was nothing to indicate a major upheaval, such as impeachment.
“The release of Comey’s opening statement for his Thursday testimony late in the day by the Senate intelligence committee was a major event and was interpreted as risk-positive by the market since [according to our read] it did not appear to offer a smoking gun against the administration,” Ian Lyngen, head of U.S. rate strategy at BMO Capital Markets, told CNBC.
But as the trading day neared its end, the Dow took a dip of 30 points, before closing at 21,182.53, which nonetheless was still a .04 percent increase from the previous day.
