Ryan Fuchs, Financial Planner
@RyanFuchs
My guess is that the election itself will have the "usual" impact on the stock markets. By "usual," I mean if the Republican nominee wins, the markets will probably increase the following day; if the Democrat nominee wins, the markets will probably decrease the following day. After that, things will probably go back to whatever is normal at that time. If the economy is on the rise and businesses are doing well, the stocks markets will likely go up more than they will go down; if we are in the beginnings of a recession, then the markets will likely do down more than they go up.
As Robert said, the President alone has little, to no, power to affect the long-term prospects of the stock market. I would argue that what Congress does in conjunction with the President can tend to have much more impact than the President alone (since the President can't draft and pass bills by him/herself).
As for bond prices, I would suggest that the Fed will have a much larger impact on what happens in the bond market over the coming years than the next President will. To me, the biggest impact that the next President will potentially have on the bond markets will be whether s/he re-appoints Janet Yellen to head the Fed when her term expires in February 2018.
Robert C. Henderson, President, Lansdowne Wealth Management
@RobertCHenderson
Like most political, global, and economic events, there will be plenty of short-term market gyrations. But the reality is that there is very little that most presidents can do to permanently impact stock prices. Generally speaking, stock market prices are impacted by corporate earnings, interest rates (which indirectly impact earnings), inflation, and changes in P/E mutiples.
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