A survey of the chief financial officers of major global companies has found that a vast majority of the executives give President Donald Trump some or most of the credit for this year’s continued stock market rally. But Trump’s impact on jobs is another story.
The CNBC survey found that 77% of CFOs at least partly credit Trump for the bull run. Most felt the Administration’s regulatory rollbacks would have the greatest positive impact on their own companies. Far fewer of those surveyed believed the Trump Administration deserves credit for continuing low unemployment. About 51% of the CFOs said Trump deserves “none of the credit” for unemployment declining from 4.8% to 4.4%, and less than half gave him any credit for jobs created since he took office.
The Trump Administration has been more averse to regulation than even previous Republican administrations. In Trump’s first six months in office, federal agencies issued rules at less than one-fifth the average rate under President George W. Bush. Many of the agencies responsible for regulation, particularly the Environmental Protection Agency, remain understaffed.
The Trump Administration has also rolled back many existing regulations and delayed others. Though the Administration hasn’t provided a comprehensive assessment of the resulting savings to businesses, three rules reversed by Trump were estimated by the Office of Management and Budget to save between $500 million and $1.1 billion each.
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Reversed or delayed rules would have addressed issues including public health, worker safety, consumer protection, and the environment. The rollbacks have been so sharp that some within the oil and gas industry have quietly suggested they could be setting the stage for safety failures.
The survey, conducted between Sept. 5 and Sept. 13, polled members of CNBC’s Global CFO Council, which includes the CFOs of Nissan, MasterCard, Salesforce, SpaceX, and dozens of other major global firms.