Traders like a 'volatile & unpredictable' Trump
Donald Trump's from-the-hip style may start making financial markets volatile again — and that's just fine for a breed of global fast-money traders who thrive on that.
With he and President Joe Biden running neck-and-neck ahead of their first debate Thursday night, investors have already been trying to game out how the Republican's return to the White House could affect everything from the electric-vehicle industry to the direction of long-term interest rates.
Markets, as a rule, don't like that kind of uncertainty. But for a subset of hedge funds that swoop in and out whenever big swings and anomalies make prices look briefly out of whack, that's almost beside the point.
What they see in Trump is far more simple: Memories of the opportunities that arose during his four years in office, when his comments and social-media posts sometimes surprised investors, triggering dramatic short-term moves in the prices of stocks, bonds and currencies.
«Politics aside, if you ask a trader whether he wants placid Biden or stormy Trump, the trader is going big wave surfing — so it's Trump,» said Calvin Yeoh, portfolio manager at hedge fund Blue Edge Advisors in Singapore. «Trump is more volatile and unpredictable.»
During the Biden years, of course, there's been no shortage of volatility. The inflation surge, Russia's war in Ukraine, and the Federal Reserve's rate hikes all did plenty to whipsaw markets. As a result, some broad measures of expected market swings have been higher than they were during much of Trump's tenure,
