The line in Trump’s Davos speech that stock markets cared most about

After a brief sell-off in the run-up to Donald The President’s speech to global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday, markets are up, after the president backed off earlier claims and ruled out using force to acquire Greenland.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 451 points, or about 1%, and the S&P 500 was up 67 points, also about 1%, in midday trading at the time of this writing. The Nasdaq was up about 0.7%.

On the issue of acquiring Greenland, The President said the following: “We never asked for anything, and we never got anything . . . We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable.”

“But I won’t do that. Okay?” The President continued. “Now everyone’s saying, ‘Oh, good.’ That’s probably the biggest statement I made, because people thought I would use force. I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”

The President has threatened to impose anywhere from 10% to 25% tariffs on our longtime European allies (the U.K., Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland) over their reluctance to hand over Greenland, which had previously triggered a sell-off of U.S. assets, Axios reported.

European nations own an estimated $8 trillion of U.S. bonds and equities.

The 10-year Treasury price turned higher and its yield turned lower following The President’s comments. The U.S. dollar index pared its decline with other currencies.

Although The President backed off claims of U.S. military action in Greenland, he did double down on his plans to acquire Greenland, saying he was “seeking immediate negotiations” to discuss the matter.

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