Devil-may-care investors fall under spell of Trump-mania

But crazy spending plans that have led to huge rise in borrowing by junk-rated firms are likely to be blocked by Congress

Wall Street is making some big bets on Donald Trump. One of the biggest is that the US president can persuade Congress to unravel the Dodd-Frank Act that he believes ties the financial services industry in knots. Bank shares have carried the US stock market higher ever since Trump said it was a priority.

Another big bet is on a Trump-inspired spending spree by Congress on all manner of infrastructure projects, including the Mexican wall and on the military. This bet gets a steroid boost when traders add in the impact of huge tax cuts, albeit for the richest, trade tariffs on imports (protecting smaller US firms from competition) and a supposedly benign form of blackmail targeting major corporations that consider opening factories abroad (forcing them to locate inside the US).

Related: Why Donald Trump can't bully China on trade

Trump needs to win over eight Democrats in the Senate to push through his agenda; that looks increasingly unlikely.