While most analysts attributed the Dow plunging more than 1,000 points on Monday to the number of coronavirus cases climbing outside of China, Fox Business host Charles Payne claimed it was the fault of Bernie Sanders’ recent campaign success.
This is an easy line for Sanders critics to trot out and use as a scare tactic to convince voters to keep Trump in office. And if it were true that the stock market plunge is due to Sanders, it would not explain why the UK market is also down by three percent or why Italy’s MIB index slippeds more than five percent. Nor would a Sanders victory explain why airline stocks also took a big hit — it’s because of coronavirus fears.
Payne didn’t let facts like that get in his way, and you can expect much of the same from pundits as we draw nearer to November if Sanders maintains his delegate lead. Asked if the selloff is all due to the coronavirus or if it’s because this is the first time U.S. markets are open since Sanders’ big win in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, Payne said “the Bernie factor” is to blame.
“The Bernie factor is finally rearing its head in the stock market,” the host said. Payne then rattled off a list of healthcare and pharmaceutical companies that saw their stock drop, connecting Sanders’ Medicare for All plan as the reason for the huge dip.
During his rundown of companies hit hard today, Payne was asked: “You really attribute that selloff to Bernie Sanders?”
Payne responded, “Absolutely. There’s absolutely no doubt.”
The host then said the same companies’ stocks “got hammered” when Elizabeth Warren was leading in the polls earlier in the campaign cycle. Payne then added, “This is the first time that Wall Street has taken Bernie Sanders very seriously.”
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