The Election Rally Just Aced Its First Test By Sean Michael Cummings, analyst, True Wealth The 2024 election looks like it will be quite the slog... As of Friday's polling data from ABC News' 538, 55% of Americans hold an unfavorable opinion of President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, 53% of Americans feel the same about former President Donald Trump. In other words, the majority of voters prefer neither candidate. But that's not how American democracy works... The election will proceed. And come November, one of these two men will almost certainly be the winner. When it comes time to cast ballots, voters will likely choose their "least bad" option. It's a bleak political backdrop. And you might expect this to drain investor sentiment, too. But in reality, the 2024 bull market is running strong. The market rally passed a critical test of resilience in January... and it points to a positive year ahead for stocks. Recommended Links: | MUST-SEE BY MIDNIGHT TONIGHT... "This is how I'd invest $1 million today," says legendary investor Whitney Tilson, who just posted a new portfolio of stock picks. He isn't buying the Magnificent Seven... or putting an equal amount of cash into each. Instead, he's using the Monte Carlo method to see which of 4,817 stocks could double your money. Click here to learn more, before it goes offline. | |
---|
'I Found the Answer to Retirement' A subscriber from New York came forward with his unique story of how he retired early and worry-free WITHOUT stocks... thanks to ONE single idea that anyone can use. Now, he sees 16%-plus annual returns with legal protections... and he NEVER has to worry about another market crash again. Get the full story right here. | |
---|
| When it comes to U.S. presidential politics, don't overlook Ohio. After all, "As Ohio goes, so goes the nation." Historically, whoever wins in Ohio has typically won the presidential race. We have a similar saying in finance, too: "As January goes, so goes the year." January tends to act as a "bellwether" month. A good return in January correlates to a good year for stocks, and vice versa. Stocks rose about 2% last month. This performance is already a positive sign for the market... But according to history, we should be especially bullish after a strong January in an election year. I've discussed how elections support the stock market before in DailyWealth. Here's what I said on the subject last month... It's worth noting that elections are reliably bullish. Stocks were positive in 20 of the past 24 election years... resulting in a strong win rate of 83%. Elections and a strong performance in January are each bullish for stocks. But I wanted to see what happens when you have both in the same year... To test this, I found the one-month returns for every positive January in an election year going back to 1928. Then, I measured what the market returned over the next year. The results were overwhelmingly bullish. Take a look... The U.S. has had 24 election years since 1928. And 11 of those had a positive January return... In every case, January gains led to higher stock prices a year later. And more often than not, the market outperformed, too... Stocks return an average of about 6% a year with a typical buy-and-hold strategy. But the average return soars to 11% when you buy after a strong January in an election year. And 73% of the time, stocks return double-digit gains. In short, last month's performance spells a big year for stocks. Don't let this year's political scene get you too shaken up. History shows stocks are likely to surge after the dust settles – regardless of the outcome. Good investing, Sean Michael Cummings Further Reading "Do yourself a favor and ignore the daily noise," Dr. David Eifrig writes. So much information is at our disposal today. It can be hard to know what's crucial and what's irrelevant. But as long-term investors, we can afford to ignore short-term events... Read more here. Emotions run wild during volatile market periods – especially in election years. And it doesn't help if the TV is constantly blaring bad news in the background. That's why you should consider a classic investing approach: the "coffee-can portfolio"... Learn more here. | Market Notes HIGHS AND LOWS NEW HIGHS OF NOTE LAST WEEK Visa (V)... payment-processing giant JPMorgan Chase (JPM)... financial giant American Express (AXP)... financial giant Citigroup (C)... financial giant S&P Global (SPGI)... financial analytics Meta Platforms (META)... social media giant Amazon (AMZN)... online-retail king Netflix (NFLX)... video streaming Nvidia (NVDA)... chip giant Palo Alto Networks (PANW)... cybersecurity Dell Technologies (DELL)... laptops and PCs Danaher (DHR)... science, health, and tech Eli Lilly (LLY)... pharmaceuticals GSK (GSK)... pharmaceuticals Stryker (SYK)... medical devices Costco Wholesale (COST)... membership-only stores Colgate-Palmolive (CL)... household goods Cintas (CTAS)... uniforms O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY)... auto parts General Electric (GE)... manufacturing CSX (CSX)... railroads NEW LOWS OF NOTE LAST WEEK C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW)... shipping technology Peloton Interactive (PTON)... e-fitness fad DuPont de Nemours (DD)... chemicals Mosaic (MOS)... fertilizer MAG Silver (MAG)... silver Tell us what you think of this content We value our subscribers' feedback. To help us improve your experience, we'd like to ask you a couple brief questions. |