Investors seek Big Tech safety as presidential election hangs in the balance

The United States’ “Big Tech” names – Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook — led gainers on Wall Street on Wednesday, as investors sought the security of this year’s big COVID-19 stay-at-home corporate success stories in the face of a presidential election set to go down to the wire.

Susan Mathew for Reuters:

Overall, Wall Street’s main indexes surged to a more-than-one-week high with the tech-heavy Nasdaq outperforming.

Technology mega-caps have benefited from Trump’s softer stance on regulation and anti-trust policies as well as a tax cut that targeted U.S. big business.

Microsoft, Intel, and IBM rose between 0.4% and 2.2%, while FAANG stocks Facebook Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google surged between 3.2% and 7.5%.

“With a Trump presidency more likely than expected and a more evenly balanced Senate, any big change like higher capital gains tax or a legislation that regulates the tax more aggressively is less likely, and that’s why tech is doing better,” said TS Lombard’s head of strategy, Andrea Cicione.

The Invesco Solar ETF dropped 3.5%, having gained more than 40% from September lows, while the iShares Global Clean Energy ETF ICLN.O, another instrument representing the developing sector, which Biden had made a key plank of his agenda, fell 2%.

“The fact that Republicans are likely to retain a Senate majority would make it virtually impossible for Biden (if he wins) to enact his major climate reforms,” said Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov.

MacDailyNews Take: Lots of bets being placed on an uncertain outcome. In other words, just another day on Wall Street!