Yesterday night Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced each other in their first Presidential Debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The apparent winner was Hillary Clinton. While she calmly and eloquently touched many policy areas in detail, Trump’s lack of preparation had him ranting in a sloppy pattern of interruption after the first half hour, and the markets noticed. For example the Mexican peso – dollar parity went from 19.89 pesos per dollar at the beginning of the debate, to 19.54 towards the end.
Amongst the more memorable quotes are:
From Hillary:
- “I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. And, yes, I did. You know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president. And I think that’s a good thing.”
- “Well, Donald, I know you live in your own reality,” Clinton responding to Trump’s trade attack.
From Donald:
- That makes me smart,” Trump said in response to Clinton saying he might not pay federal income taxes.
- “I was going to say something extremely rough to Hillary, to her family, and I said to myself, ‘I can’t do it. I just can’t do it.’ It’s inappropriate. It’s not nice,’ ” Trump told CNN after the debate.
During the debate they engaged in an occasionally raw series of clashes on topics from trade policy to the Iran deal to Trump’s taxes. It is clear the presidential candidates don’t often see eye to eye, but they both agree that the US needs to fix its crumbling infrastructure. Allianz Global Investors created an infographic that shows how infrastructure spending could pay off for the economy – and how investors could take advantage.
According to Kristina Hooper, US Investment Strategist at Allianz Global Investors “The US presidential election has the potential to negatively affect markets in the short term. Depending on the outcome of the Congressional races, the new president may not be able to see much of his or her platform come to fruition. However, both candidates are likely to increase fiscal spending, which should be positive for the US economy – particularly since it’s unclear how effective monetary policy still is. Investors may want to take a ‘wait-and-see‘ approach to making sector bets – except for infrastructure, which is likely to benefit regardless of who wins in November. Either way, investors should also expect greater volatility as we get closer to the election.”