Free Republic

The White House on Monday downplayed the weeks long stock market sell-off, insisting that recent moves by business leaders suggest a brighter outlook for the U.S. economy. “We’re seeing a strong divergence between animal spirits of the stock market and what we’re actually seeing unfold from businesses and business leaders,” a White House official told reporters Monday afternoon. “The latter is obviously more meaningful than the former on what’s in store for the economy in the medium to long term,” said the official, who was granted anonymity. In economics, the term “animal spirits” is used to describe situations where human...