Trump Praises Himself for Stock Market, Tags Fake Twitter Handle

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump gave himself a pat on the back Saturday for the recent stock market rally, and tagged a fake Twitter account from Russia in the process.

“Stock Market is on track to have the best June in over 50 years! Thank you Mr. President! @WallStreetJour” Trump said in a tweet.

The Twitter account he referenced isn’t the Wall Street Journal’s handle, @WSJ, but a Russian-language version that sent the last of its 66 tweets in December 2013, more than 18 months before Trump launched his presidential bid. @WallStreetJour, an unverified account, called itself a Russian language version of the newspaper. He later resent the tweet with the Journal’s actual handle.

U.S. stocks surged this week on optimism ahead of a Group of 20 meeting between Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping, and on the likelihood of a Federal Reserve rate cut over the coming months. Easing of recent border and trade tensions with Mexico have also helped.

The S&P 500 index has gained 7.2% this month, set for its best June performance in more than six decades -- since 1955. The gauge hit a fresh intraday high on Friday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly surpassed its Oct. 3 closing record before both indexes turned lower on the day.

--With assistance from Hailey Waller.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ros Krasny in Washington at rkrasny1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Linus Chua, Ian Fisher

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