On November 21 last year, the Dow Jones shot up 6.5 per cent - its largest daily gain in weeks - after Tim Geithner was nominated as Barack Obama's Treasury secretary.
The markets were relieved to see the back of Hank Paulson, George W. Bush's last Treasury secretary, whose gaunt, sleepdeprived visage mirrored Wall Street's fatigue. Mr Geithner represented a fresh technocratic approach in which they could believe.
Now, it seems, every time Mr Geithner opens his mouth the Dow heads in the opposite direction. Worse, perhaps, Mr Obama has got into the habit of expressing his confidence in Mr Geithner, a sure sign in more normal times that a public figure's days are numbered.