Republican Trifecta

waltky

Wise ol' monkey
Feb 6, 2011
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What happens when Republicans control it all...

Stocks soar when Republicans control it all
November 10, 2016 - Starting in 2017, the Republican Party will hold the big trifectaā€¦
The Republicans will control the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Presidency. This is an incredibly unusual eventā€¦ It has only happened twice going back to 1950. (Once for two years, and once for four years.) So what does it mean for the markets? I didnā€™t know. So I crunched the numbers to find out. The answer was shockingā€¦

The conventional wisdom is that ā€œa house dividedā€ works out best for the stock market. The general thinking is that ā€œgridlock in Washington is good.ā€ If different parties have ā€œcontrolā€ over Congress and the Presidency, then not much gets done. In theory, thatā€™s good for Wall Street ā€“ fewer laws are passed to regulate businesses. I get it. But the numbers tell a different storyā€¦

Surprisingly, the ā€œtrifectaā€ trumps ā€œthe conventional wisdom.ā€ Here are the actual stock market returns when Republicans controlled the Presidency, the Senate, and the Houseā€¦

DWtable1110.png

These returns are extremely high. Thatā€™s a 14% compound annual gain! (And these are only price returns ā€“ they donā€™t include dividends.) Itā€™s not just Republicansā€¦

When the Democrats control all three, stock prices perform better than when there is no trifecta. A Democratic trifecta beats ā€œbuy and hold.ā€ And it beats the conventional wisdom that bipartisan control is good for stocks. Stock returns in a Democratic trifecta arenā€™t nearly as high as they are in a Republican trifecta, based on historyā€¦ But keep in mind, weā€™re dealing with a small number of occurrences for the Republicans. So how does this affect us today?

Investors are now filled with fear and panicā€¦ Whatā€™s going to happen? Whatā€™s Donald Trump going to do as president? The message from history is this: Donā€™t worry so much about it. The bigger story is the Republican trifecta. Stocks have performed incredibly well under a Republican trifecta. The last time around (from 2003 to 2006), stocks didnā€™t have a single losing year. In five out of the six years that weā€™ve seen a Republican trifecta, stocks have only lost money once (in 1953).

Todayā€™s headlines are all about Trump. But the bigger story is about the Republican trifecta. Using history as our guide, you donā€™t need to worry so muchā€¦

Good investing

Sjuggerud: Stocks soar when Republicans control it all
 

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