This is The Takeaway from today's Morning Brief, which you can sign up to receive in your inbox every morning along with:
I had three personal goals going into this year's Yahoo Finance Invest conference.
Goal one was to ensure all the passionate Yahoo Finance fans in the audience came away more knowledgeable about investing than when they arrived. Considering the event was standing room only the entire day and notepads were out, I think mission accomplished here.
The next goal was to cheer on the Yahoo Finance team of journalists interviewing titans of industry, as well as the incredible teams behind the scenes making the event come to life.
I lost my voice a little the day after (which you could probably hear in the above Opening Bid podcast from the next day), so mission accomplished here too.
And goal three —- wait for it — was to figure out why on earth movers and shakers in the world of business were so darn jazzed by another Trump presidency .
Why were they hitting the buy button on stocks that were already near records pre-Election Day? Why were they more bullish on the business of doing business today compared to outgoing president Joe Biden ?
The president-elect has floated all sorts of potentially economically damaging policies, from stiff tariffs on China that run the risk of reigniting inflation to mass deportations that could severely upset supply chains.
The market moves we've seen since Nov. 5 border on nonsensical, especially in the wake of the interesting cast of characters being put forward by Trump to run key government agencies.
In the end, I got the answer to my question in two of my interviews: Apollo ( APO ) co-founder and CEO Marc Rowan (Disclosure: Yahoo Finance is owned by Apollo Global Management) and Bank of America ( BAC ) chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan . And the answer is this: The market has reasoned the billions of dollars the Biden administration pumped into the economy in areas such as infrastructure — which is only hitting now in a lot of cases — will be super-charged by looser regulations by Trump.
This, in effect, could be coined the Trumpian-Biden rally.
So the play appears to be buying possibly stronger-than-expected cash flows of companies today before the growth mushroom cloud appears down the line.
A few important comments:
Marc Rowan
"Look, this administration is coming in at a point in time where they really have an opportunity to pivot. Think about where the US is in the world. I mean, all the action is here. I mean, just recite what's going on. The economy is in great shape, certainly relative to the other two large blocs of Europe and China. We have stimulated our economy over the past four years, and we're about to get the dividend of that. I mean, we forget, three years ago, we passed almost $2 trillion for infrastructure. It's all under construction.
Two years ago, $52 billion for semiconductor plants. Not a single plant is open yet, all under construction. Three years in a row, we've been the largest recipient of foreign direct investment, all under construction. It's coming our way. We're where the action is. And now the question is, can we lead? And you can pick almost any area, pick energy. We've spent all this time where the dialogue's been about energy transition. I think we're actually going to start talking about energy accretion. I mean, think of just the demand for data, for power, for data to help redefine our future. We can't just talk about transition anymore. We have to acknowledge we are going to need more power. No one produces clean power the way we produce it."
Brian Moynihan
"I think what's really driving the fundamental activity in the economy is the things that make America great. Capitalism. A consumer is employed and earning money and spending, and credit is widely available. Those are what drives this capital market, and investors like all the people here [at Invest] are putting [capital] to work. And that's what makes America great. And having a set of policies to enhance that is a good thing."
I guess what can go wrong? Let me tell you, a lot can go wrong. The path toward turbocharged growth over the next four years won't be straight — and could look ugly before it gets better. Appreciate the bull story, but continue to ask skeptical questions about it at every juncture.
Thank you to everyone who spent the day with the Yahoo Finance team in person and live on our network. We felt your energy, and believe you me — we are already hard at work thinking through more innovative ways to present Invest in 2025.
Three times each week, I drive insight-filled conversations and chats with the biggest names in business and markets on Opening Bid . You can find more episodes on our video hub or watch on your preferred streaming service .
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn
