How investors can position their portfolios ahead of the 2024 presidential election – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

With about a month to go before the 2024 presidential election, investors are bracing for possible volatility in markets amid uncertainty over whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris will win in November.

“It’s really important for everyone to remember that there is a lot of noise and a lot of volatility surrounding elections,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. “What fundamentally drives markets will be earnings growth, inflation and Fed actions.”

Differences in Republican and Democratic economic policies mean there may be differentiated ways for investors to position their portfolios to make money based on the election outcome.

“There will certainly be winners and losers from this election cycle,” said John Mowrey, chief investment officer at NFJ Investment Group. “Depending on what happens with corporate tax rates, what happens with regulation and what happens with geopolitics.”

Small-cap stocks could potentially benefit from a second Trump administration, according to some experts.

“If you look at Trump’s election in November 2016, small caps did really well in those first few months, twice as much as the S&P 500,” said Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group. “During his tenure, performance was right on par with large-caps, but we didn’t have that really big difference in performance that we see now between mega-caps and everything else.”

Renewable energy is a sector that some analysts expect would benefit under a Harris presidency as it seeks to build on the Biden administration’s investments.

“The most important thing about Harris’ power would be to protect and further implement the Inflation Reduction Act, which is an important legacy of the Biden administration,” said Stephen Myrow, managing partner of Beacon Policy Advisors. “Much of this hasn’t been implemented yet, but this is important for wind and solar energy, biofuels and nuclear hydrogen.”

Watch them video Above, learn which sectors and industries will benefit most from each presidential candidate and what investors can do now to optimally position their portfolios ahead of the 2024 election.