The stock market could enjoy a bigger boost from President-elect Donald Trump than any previous administration thanks to his pro-business policies, according to Jeremy Siegel, finance professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
“President-elect Trump is the most pro-stock market president we have had in our history,” Siegel said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday. “He measured his success in his first term by how well the stock market did. You know, it seems to me very unlikely he’s going to implement policies that are going to be bad for the stock market.”
The market already reached new heights in reaction to Trump’s election win as investors bet that his promises of tax cuts and deregulation will propel growth and benefit risk assets.
The S&P 500 soared 4.66% last week for its best week since November 2023, trading above 6,000 for the first time ever. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average also climbed above a new milestone of 44,000 post election.
Investments seen as the biggest beneficiaries under a Trump presidency exploded during the week.
Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk is a prominent backer of Trump, saw shares skyrocket 29% to return to a $1 trillion market cap. Bank stocks such as JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo also had big rallies. Bitcoin continued to hit record highs as traders see looser regulations under Trump.
Siegel believes that Trump’s corporate tax cuts from his first term in 2017 are mostly likely to be extended.
“I think the extension of his 2017 tax cuts, looks pretty much like a slam dunk, but the expansion to all his other tax cuts is certainly going to be much more difficult,” Siegel said.
Still, the president-elect’s trade policy, including his vow to slap steep tariffs on trading partners, could hurt growth and inflame inflationary pressures at a time when the Federal Reserve has spent more than two years raising interest rates to bring down price increases.