President Donald Trump brushed off a recent pullback in equities on Wednesday, telling an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the dip was "peanuts" compared with the market's gains and predicting stocks would "double" over time.
Trump said good economic news used to push stocks higher "as it should," but complained that markets now often slip even when data is positive, according to Investing.com.
He added that the recent weakness did not change his broader optimism for U.S. markets, describing the setback as minor relative to the rally of recent years.
U.S. stocks opened higher after initially pointing lower before the bell. The S&P 500 rose about 0.4% at the open, reversing premarket losses as traders pointed to a more conciliatory tone in Trump's Davos remarks.
Trump also revived speculation about future Federal Reserve leadership, saying he would announce a new Fed chair in the "not too distant future."
He criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell as "terrible," comments that briefly refocused attention on the outlook for interest rates and questions surrounding central bank independence.
One of the clearest sector reactions came in nuclear-related stocks after Trump emphasized nuclear power as a key pillar of his economic and energy strategy, tying it directly to the electricity demands of artificial intelligence.
He said he had signed an order directing approvals for "many new nuclear reactors" and that the United States was "going heavy into nuclear," adding that safety improvements in the industry were "unbelievable" compared with earlier eras.
Trump said the country would need more than double its energy capacity to support the growth of AI, while warning that the U.S. power grid is outdated.
He said he urged large technology companies to build their own electric generating capacity, including power plants, and promised accelerated permitting, saying approvals could come "within two weeks."
Shares of small nuclear reactor developers rallied in premarket trading, with NuScale Power up around 6.4%, Nano Nuclear Energy rising 5.6%, and Oklo, backed by Sam Altman, climbing around 7.8%.
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