President Barack Obama told reporters yesterday that stocks are starting to look enticing again:
"[W]hat you're now seeing is profit and earning ratios are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is potentially a good deal, if you have a long-term perspective on it."
The Wall Street Journal has the best take I've seen on why sitting presidents usually steer clear of talking about the Dow:
"It is dicey for a president to talk about stock prices. In effect, he is assuming some responsibility -- at least in the mind of some investors -- for the gyrations of their savings and retirement funds. Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin warned then-President Bill Clinton not to discuss stock prices, for fear of influencing market behavior, or having his credibility undermined when prices went against the White House line. George W. Bush's first Treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, was lambasted for imploring Americans to buy stocks after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
But two weeks after the signing of his $787 billion stimulus law, the selling of the president's economic program has hit high gear. The stock-market plunge has given new voice to naysayers who say the president is in part to blame for reeling financial markets. They see halting policy efforts and a stimulus plan that is too cumbersome and slow-acting.
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