In what may be a sign of the times, and not an especially healthy one, my readers and friends recently have been filling my email inbox with questions about whether Donald Trump and White House insiders have been manipulating the stock market with his vacillating announcements about tariffs and the economy. Speculation along those lines broke into the open Tuesday when Fox News reporter Peter Doocy referred to the overall slide in the stock market since President Trump's inauguration and asked White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, "You're sure nobody here at the White House shorted the Dow?"

My new column: Insider trading at the White House? www.latimes.com/business/sto...[image or embed]

" Michael Hiltzik (@hiltzikm.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 5:20 AM