U. S. Election Insights - T. Rowe Price

hank

The link below takes you to a TRP home page featuring various takes on the upcoming election. You should be able to scroll down and select the one / ones you want to read.

I have made no changes in positioning due to election concerns. However, I think they’re downplaying the likely disruptions to markets during the interim between voting and inauguration. Markets could resemble a bit of a “roller-coaster“ as things evolve, rather than having a lasting impact. So, Price’s bottom line (to ignore it for investment purposes) is probably correct longer term.

LINK


Umm ... Not an invitation for political debate. Are folks aware there’s now an “Off Topic” zone that remains somewhat like a darkened “back room“, as it doesn’t display unless you specifically click on it? (I like it.)

Sven

No radical change here but I am keeping a higher cash position so I sleep better.

Crash

I find that the Market overreacts to EVERYTHING, both to the upside and downward, too. I keep my portfolio moderately safe, which is to say, only moderately risky, within a frame that takes into account that I'm in retirement, and I don't want to lose much. The last couple of days have been brutal, but it's been attributed to the Pandemic. No surprise there. Covid has lately been raging in many States and in other countries. And uncle Donald wants to wish it away. Still, a large minority apparently yet believes in him. I'll never understand it. Even before talking about leadership and discussing issues, a President must have character, integrity. Those are foreign concepts to The Donald. I could see it in 2015, and I've been shakin' my head ever since.

hank

Sven said:

No radical change here but I am keeping a higher cash position so I sleep better.

@Sven, I think lightening up is a prudent decision. I gave it some thought ..... Already did more trading than usual this year. Spec positions initiated in March are up nicely despite taking a hit yesterday.

Close call.

Sven

@hank, I started to lighten the equity allocation as I watch the COVID situation approaches the fall. Quite frankly it does not look encouraging. I hope we will not revisit the last spring as lockdown took place everywhere. Some countries did well and recovered, but US did not. I am taking defensive position with larger % cash while hoping this time is different.

bee

Beyond Politics...maybe some shifting of markets:

From Iian Little:

After such vastly different equity sector performances in 2020, how will a Biden Presidency affect sector trends? A consensus is emerging that Biden –the bookies’ favorite–will lead with higher taxes, far greater fiscal and infrastructural muscle, a greener economy and a bold frontal attack on the windmills of Big Tech. Micro-economic initiatives will hallmark a Biden administration. Expect higher corporate taxes, clean energy subsidies, disincentives to “fracking”, stress tests on banks, handcuffs on Wall Street traders, price caps on generic drugs, less protection for Big Pharma drug sales. But, these are all inflationary policies.

and,

Investors should focus on the seismic societal and technological changes that Covid has accelerated. These shifts are infinitely more reliable, stable and invest-able than the promises of fickle politicians. When human beings start to behave differently –iPhones, working from home, plugging in their cars at night, measuring their daily steps, washing their hands–that’s when you get the most sustainable economic changes.

Biden & Beyond

BenWP

Flashback to this week in 2016. I was totally convinced that if Trump won, the markets would tank. I didn't share that opinion then and I have no opinion to share today, for obvious reasons. I will, however, be trying to follow either John King or Steve Kornacki in their unofficial race to get the most words into the shortest span of time during the election returns shows.

LewisBraham

@Crash

I find that the Market overreacts to EVERYTHING,

Fundamentally, I think you're right. To react to an election result without seeing what actual policies are enacted is silly. Both political parties have a long history of protecting rich people's interests. That is a constant, despite the hogwash from the right-wing about ostensible socialism.

BenWP

@LewisBraham: apparently the bogus charge of "socialism" was thrown at Abraham Lincoln during the 1860 campaign. Maybe it's time for as revival of the know-nothings party I recall from a US history course.

Old_Joe

But we already have a party that wants to "know nothing" with respect to factual information.

BenWP

Right, @Old_Joe: probably only a few oldsters here would get the allusion to, “The facts, ma’am, nothing but the facts.” Too bad things aren’t as simple any more. Have a great Election Day!

Old_Joe

@BenWP- thanks- you too! If I was the praying sort I'd be doing just that right now.

LewisBraham

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing

BenWP

Thanks for that link, Lewis. I wish the current nativist, conspiratorial, anti-intellectual uprising has as short a shelf life as the Know Nothing movement. The latter appears to have flamed out quickly.

fred495

Even though I may have agreed with some of T's policies on illegal migration and confronting China on its unfair trade practices, for example, but, on the whole, I found the man to be a total egomaniac, a poor negotiator who ran a disorganized administration, and a very divisive force that certainly didn't encourage the better angels of our nature, to paraphrase Lincoln.

Time for the country to heal and move forward to a brighter future. In that sense, yesterday was a beautiful day.

Good luck to us all and to Joe.

Fred

Crash

From the White House to the Big House? Hmmmmm.

davidrmoran

carew388

+1