Trump also said that he likes low interest rates. Surprising for someone that spoke very negatively of the Fed during the campaign, but not surprising for someone who made billions borrowing money to finance big real estate projects.

And while politicians speaking against things they don’t like isn’t unique, Trump’s comments made clear to many that when Yellen’s time came at the Fed, a Trump administration would go another direction. Continuity at the Fed, then, would be an unexpected — and likely positive — development for markets which were otherwise bracing for regime change at the world’s most influential central bank.

Neil Dutta, an economist at Renaissance Macro, said that these comments from Trump indicated Gary Cohn, a Goldman Sachs alum and the president’s chief economic advisor, is moving into the driver’s seat on Trumponomics.

“Nationalism is giving way to pragmatism,” Dutta wrote. “I think the odds of Janet Yellen being here next year are rising and I do think that is bullish for risk appetite.”

So, good for stocks.

Elsewhere in this same interview, however, Trump said that the U.S. dollar was too strong — a strength Trump attributed to increased economic confidence that resulted from his election win.

David Zervos, a strategist at Jefferies, notes, however, that higher interest rates and a stronger dollar are precisely what is needed to put in place Trump’s stated economic goals.

This week’s “statements by Trump on his desire to keep interest rates low and the dollar weak are likely to end up being quite disingenuous (and yes, this would surely not be his first disingenuous statement),” Zervos wrote.

“For if Trump’s true goal is to generate higher real returns to private sector capital and higher potential growth rates via fiscal and (de)regulatory stimulus, then the side effects of a stronger dollar and higher rates should not be a big deal. The idea of having low rates, a weak dollar, and stronger growth is simply something out of fantasyland.”

An alternative read on Zervos’ assessment, however, is that the Trump agenda we came to know is no longer in play. And the more stories we read about how Trump strategist Steve Bannon — known, among other things, for his ardent support of economic nationalism inside the White House — is losing influence in the administration, the more likely this is.

Plan B

In a note to clients this week, Ethan Harris and his team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote a note about Trump’s tax reform plans titled “Plan B.” The tax reform we thought we would know is already dead.

For Harris and his team, this specific ‘Plan B’ would involve:

1. Cutting the corporate marginal rate to about 25% so it matches other major countries.

2. Taxing profits earned abroad at a lower rate (say 20%) regardless of whether it is brought home or not.

3. Having a onetime repatriation tax of say 10% for existing profits held overseas.

Harris writes that, “Such a plan is far from perfect, but this ‘hybrid’ approach had support from both sides of the aisle before the election.”

These particulars are only partially important. A chart included by Harris in this note, however, makes a much stronger point about where tax reform is now and seems likely to be in the future.

Just a few months ago, nearly all investors were expecting comprehensive tax reform by year-end. Currently, investors are about split on seeing corporate and individual tax reform by year-end. A further downgrade of expectations on tax reform does not seem unlikely.

Tax reform was the most significant part of Trump’s agenda in terms of boosting growth in the near-term. It’s telling that tax reform is now being discussed as a slimmer package while things trade restrictions and infrastructure spending and healthcare reform seem all but dead.

This is simply not the new era of bold economic plans that many believed had been ushered in on January 20.

Markets, for their part, have by now discounted any action from the Trump administration this year. Whether consumers and businesses begin to do the same is now the most important place to focus.

On Citi’s (C) first quarter earnings calls, CEO Michael Corbat, said that when it comes to Trump’s more stimulative economic proposals — such as infrastructure spending and tax cuts — it’s not a matter of if, but when these changes take place.

This is fast becoming a contrarian view.

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Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland

Read more from Myles here:

• Trump says Janet Yellen is ‘not toast’

• Jamie Dimon thinks America’s ‘secret sauce’ is at risk

• Here’s what’s next for stocks now that the Trump trade is over

• A top Fed official isn’t worried about the slowdown in bank lending

• Why you should always be ready for a big, scary stock market sell-off