Kudlow blames stock dip on election jitters

The recent dip in the stock market, which has all but wiped out the gains for 2018, is partly due to election jitters, top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said at a Washington Post event Thursday.

“Inside this correction someplace is some nerves about the election,” he said, reiterating a view that has recently become a talking point among Republicans.

{mosads}If Democrats win the House, he said, tax increases would be on the table, making the markets nervous. Businesses, Kudlow argued, were also worried about red tape, regulation and a reversal of Trump energy policies.

But Kudlow said he was confident that the decrease in stock prices was a temporary correction, and not the beginning of a longer downturn.

“Corrections come and go,” he said, swatting away the idea that a trade war with China and ongoing disputes with close trade partners were responsible for the losses. He said that some leading technology company prices, which had led the stock market rise, had been overvalued and due for a correction.