Data: Yahoo Finance; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/AxiosPresident Trump has presided over a stock market surge since taking office in 2017, but he's been outpaced by three of his four predecessors.By the numbers: The S&P 500 grew by 44.5% since Trump's inauguration through the end of October 2020. This comes up short of former President Obama's 66.1% through the comparable time period, but well above the -15.8% for former President George W. Bush.Trump's market performance also trails Obama in terms of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, although it tops Obama when it comes to the Nasdaq.Context: Obama took office in the midst of an economic recession, so much of his S&P 500 performance was a rebound from the depths. Trump inherited a bull market that continued to rampage, outside of a brief dip early in the pandemic.Be smart: The S&P 500 measures how investors view the health of large American companies, not how healthy the American economy may or may not be.