Why investors should not to fear Trump’s return

Experts say Singapore can withstand Trump-era policy-related market volatilities.

Investors eyeing Singapore should not worry too much about Trump’s return to the White House.

RHB expects Singapore’s resilient growth momentum to endure despite short-term market volatilities from Trump-era policy uncertainties.

"We believe Singapore will continue to profit from trade diversification and the movement of supply chains by enterprises pursuing the China Plus One strategy," RHB said.

"We expect this pattern to continue, even when Trump returns to the White House," RHB added.

RHB recommends defensive stocks, including UOB with its ASEAN growth, Raffles Medical, Sheng Siong, and ST Engineering, to weather Trump-era short-term volatilities.

RHB also cited three reasons why investors should not fear or worry about Trump 2.0.

According to RHB, potential Trump-era volatility won’t be enough to dent the robust global economic growth momentum.

"Potential protectionist-led policies and their negative impact on China and ASEAN will likely be at the forefront of investors' concerns. However, it is too early to call for a sizeable downturn," RHB said.

Second, RHB believes Trump’s policies, such as extending tax cuts, reducing corporate taxes, and exempting various incomes from personal tax, will support US economic growth, potentially exceeding the 2.0% GDP forecast for 2025.

Lastly, empirical evidence suggests post-election risk-taking sentiment turns positive, with S&P trends showing uptrends after most elections, except for the 2008 race between Barack Obama and John McCain.