Uncertain Times?

This week was the historic presidential election and all the markets were in great turmoil leading up to the big day. Although all the polls seemed to indicate a different route,  Donald Trump won the election to become the next President of the United States. However, this should not come as a complete surprise.  The last debate, at least for me, showed which candidate had the most charisma and actually poise.

In fact, it was just one short period. This is when both candidates were asked the most important question of all the debates combined with all the negativity and arguing. A guy from the audience simply asked what was one good thing about the other candidate. This was the perfect opportunity to show character and community. Well, Hilary Clinton said one thing about his kids and then went back to negativity and her own agenda. In other words, she flubbed the crucial opportunity. Donald Trump actually answered the question correctly and stopped at that. I am not a political person and this is not a political site, but that one question and two answers showed me who had the charisma to win the election.

That said, stocks did not plummet as was predicted with a Trump win. Instead, he gave a good acceptance speech and the stock market actually rallied. Now that the election is finally over, some of the uncertain times are past us. Anybody who predicted the doom of the world likely already lost profits in stocks they sold. I was going to buy more if it fell big, but that did not happen.

Going forward, having just elected a president will help drive away uncertainty for the foreseeable future. Yes, there could be road bumps as he did stir the pot among some groups and there have been protests about the victory, but the stock market is clearly taking it as a positive for now. As always, focus on the best companies and their long term strengths and you should be fine.