What’s one more worry for stock markets, when the list is so long already?

But here comes one more. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has morphed into the spotlight after his tweet over liquidity assurances from all the big bank honchos backfired, may have run afoul of POTUS. CNN says “Mnuchin is under the gun,” over POTUS’s worries about the economy and stocks, even though the White House denies any trouble is brewing for the high-ranking cabinet member.

It adds to an ever-growing roll-call of worries dogging this market — a government shutdown, fears of a slowing economy, earnings concerns, Fed/White House acrimony and an increasingly unpredictable U.S. president, who made holiday headlines by questioning a 7-year old’s belief in Santa Claus. Even impeachment is a worry for some.

But this market is a bit of a hard sell lately, and Monday’s shocking Christmas Eve meltdown is proof of that. Of course, with volumes thin over the holidays, the question remains as to whether big players will try to right the ship after the New Year.

And would they even listen to POTUS himself, who told investors to buy the dip in Christmas Day comments to reporters in the Oval Office? “I have great confidence in our companies. We have companies, the greatest in the world, and they’re doing really well. They have record kinds of numbers. So I think it’s a tremendous opportunity to buy. Really, a great opportunity to buy,” said the commander in chief.

That comment raised alarm bells for Gregory Mannarino, a trader, who refers to himself as the “The Robin Hood of Wall Street,” and provides our call of the day.

“Our president has made it exceedingly clear that he is not happy with what the Federal Reserve is doing. He’s been screaming from the rooftops how he feels this will affect the stock market in a negative way, our economy in a negative way, but now he’s telling us to buy this dip in the stock market?” says Mannarino, who got his start at Bear Stearns and is also a doctor.

He says what POTUS won’t tell investors is that they should be looking at the debt market and the yield curve that is “pointing towards a recession and a lot worse than that.”

“I think the president’s words here may be looked at by Wall Street as an act of desperation to try to get buyers in. But why would he want to get buyers in if he really cares about the people…if he believes the Federal Reserve is doing the wrong thing?” says Mannarino, who sees no meaningful buyers set to step into this market.

Mannarino said earlier this week that the real bottom for the Dow could be as low as 3,000 as the Fed’s buying spree began back when the index was trading at 6,000. Check out his blog at TradersChoice.net.

Opinion:Investment newsletter gurus like these stocks or the market rebound they see in 2019

Meanwhile, Mike “Mish” Shedlock, investment advisor for Sitka Pacific Capital Management, noted on his blog that the commander in chief himself said in a 2016 interview that he once invested in stocks, but doesn’t anymore.

The quote

“They’re raising interest rates too fast. That’s because they think the economy is so good. But I think that they will get it pretty soon.” — That’s POTUS commenting on the Fed to reporters on Christmas Day, though it seems the media can’t quite decide if that was criticism or Trump easing up on the Fed after his tweet Monday blaming the central bank for the meltdown.

Read:Why Trump can’t fire Powell for disagreement over monetary policy

According to Bloomberg, Trump told that press pool that while rate increases are going too fast, he “certainly” has confidence and “thinks it will straighten.” The latest comments come as the White House has been busy trying to quash speculation he wants to get rid of Fed Chairman Powell.

The market

After the worst Christmas Eve for stocks in history, the S&P 500 SPX, +1.61% Dow DJIA, +1.36% and Nasdaq COMP, +2.27% are rebounding big time this morning.

The dollar DXY, +0.24% is up, gold US:GCU8 is at a six-month high and crude US:CLU8 is rebounding in a biggish way. Europe markets will stay shut until Thursday, while the Nikkei NIK, +0.50% clawed back a bit from Tuesday’s 5% plunge, gaining about 0.9%.

Check out Market Snapshot for more.

Opinion:This still looks like just a stock-market correction, not something worse

The chart

Everything you need to know about finance should be explainable on the back of a napkin. So says Harvard grad Tina Hay, who struggled in college to understand the money world, launching Napkin Finance in 2015 to provide easy visual aides to describe simple money topics.

Our chart of the day shows Napkin’s take on bull and bear markets:

“It’s important to understand the way the market works and how to respond during those cycles,” Hay told Yahoo Finance. It’s worth checking out Napkin for a look at everything from FICO scores to retirement to blockchain.

The buzz

Amazon AMZN, +2.60% reported a record holiday season, boosted by demand for hot-ticket devices such as the Echo Dot. Meanwhile, emails show Amazon AMZN, +2.60% executive Anne Rung privately advised the White House over launching a new internet portal.

Tesla TSLA, +4.88% is up after Wedbush says it is staying bullish on Model 3 production and demand looks strong headed into 2019.

Roku ROKU, +2.26% is climbing after Needham analysts named it their stock pick for 2019.

JD.com JD, +2.98% is up after announcing plans for a $1 billion share buyback.

Regulators have managed to get back only about $36 million for investors duped by cases of crypto fraud over the past couple of years.

An 8-year old Guatemalan boy died in U.S. immigration custody just before Christmas Eve, the second to die in Border Patrol’s El Paso sector this month. Customs and Border Protection will now be conducting medical checkups on all children in custody, focusing on those under 10 years old.

The economy

Holiday sales for online and in-store U.S. retailers were the strongest in six years, as shoppers spent over $850 billion, according to the latest Mastercard Spending Pulse data.

Case-Shiller home prices showed the slowest growth in two years. The rest of the week will see consumer confidence, weekly jobless claims and more home sales data, the Chicago purchasing managers index and advance trade in goods.

Random reads

As the death toll rises from Indonesia’s weekend tsunami, officials fear another and warn residents to steer clear of coastal areas

Sole survivor of Indonesian pop group buries his wife and pleads with fans for photos of the two

Young MLB pitcher uses signing bonus to pay off parents debt

The 7-year old whose faith in Santa was questioned by Trump says she still believes.

The Queen of England delivered her Christmas message in front of a gold piano and England was not amused.

Japan will start whale hunting again and withdraw from the international organization that banned it in 1986

In case you were wondering:

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