The potential impact of the 2024 U.S. elections on financial markets is on investors’ minds. And rightly so, as elections certainly have implications regarding the country’s direction. According to Gallup, the top concern among voters in 2024 is the economy, including inflation. Other top priorities include immigration policy and—somewhat concerningly—lack of trust in the government and accompanying institutions.
This presidential election has two leading candidates who slightly agree on infrastructure, the debt level, and monetary policy, but vastly differ on key issues such as the economy and taxes, spending, regulations, climate, and defense. At the same time, Congressional elections will play a significant role in influencing what the next president will be able to accomplish.
A key question is: how should investors react? For those concerned about the presidential elections and heightened tensions in both global and domestic markets, we counsel continuing to manage risks through maintaining a longer-term mindset, sticking to the strategic asset allocation, remaining well diversified among asset classes, generally avoiding making short-term tactical bets, and being fully invested in the markets.
Portfolios may be designed and positioned with Syntrinsic’s current Capital Markets Forecast in mind. Passive investment managers will capture the behavior of broad markets, while active investment managers will make sector-and security-level investment decisions reflecting their views on basic economic factors and any potential longer-term impact of political changes on those factors.