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What Trump’s election means for St. Louis stocks

11 November 2016

(St. Louis Business Journal) 

Steve Finerty, chairman of Argent Capital Management, said a little more inflation and higher interest rates with a Trump administration would benefit St. Louis’ many financial companies, such as Stifel, Commerce Bank and Enterprise Bank. “And consumer discretionary stocks, such as Caleres, would benefit from a little higher inflation,” he said.

November 9, 2016 (Greg Edwards)

St. Louis companies such as Emerson (EMR), Monsanto Co. (MON), Stifel Finanacial Corp. (SF) and Enterprise Financial Services Corp. (EFSC) could benefit from Donald Trump’s election as president and Republican control of Congress, money managers said Wednesday.

“If Trump and the Republicans bring corporate taxes in line with the rest of the world — ours is the highest in the world — it will be positive for St. Louis companies, such as Emerson,” Joe Terril of Terril & Co. said. “If they put some limits on government regulatory interference, that would be good for Monsanto.”

Steve Finerty, chairman of Argent Capital Management, said a little more inflation and higher interest rates with a Trump administration would benefit St. Louis’ many financial companies, such as Stifel, Commerce Bank and Enterprise Bank. “And consumer discretionary stocks, such as Caleres, would benefit from a little higher inflation,” he said.

Terril said, “If on the other hand, Trump is serious about trade restrictions, it will be terrible for companies here and elsewhere that do international business.”

Finerty also cautioned that changes to Obamacare might be a challenge for health care companies such as Centene Corp. (CNC) and Express Scripts Holding Co. (ESRX). “But good management can overcome that,” he said. Centene shares were down nearly 18 percent Wednesday morning.

St. Louis money managers prepared to reassure investors Wednesday morning after the Dow futures market plunged more than 800 points overnight. But after the opening, the markets themselves did a lot of the reassuring.

Stocks opened relatively flat, and by mid-afternoon, the Dow was up 296 points.

Before trading began, Brent Spicuzza, managing director at Summit Wealth Strategies, reassured clients with a report showing that stocks have been pretty predictable after a presidential election, tending to sell off. In fact, they have risen only about one of every three times since 1928, according to Bespoke data. “The market is usually negative, no matter who wins,” he wrote in an email.