Smart Investor: Would the Fed Skip, the Election and Your Portfolio, October’s Best and Worst Stocks

To say this coming week will bring big news is about as much of an understatement as you can get. It’s not often (every four years, perhaps) that even a Federal Reserve decision would play second fiddle in the headlines. Of course, in this case, it’s because of the election. We’ll leave poll punditry to others, but when it comes to investing, Morningstar analysts have sliced and diced history to assess how much elections really impact markets. We’ve also looked at policy implications across the investing world. We’ve pulled all our pre-election coverage together into one place. Check it out to understand what the election could mean for your portfolio.

US markets aren’t the only ones closely watching what happens. Leslie Norton looks at what the election could mean for Japanese stocks after their wild year.

As for the Fed meeting – which has been bumped back a day from its usual timing by the election – the assumption has been that the central bank will make a quarter-point interest rate cut to follow the half-point cut at the last meeting. The bond market certainly thinks that will be the case, assigning it a near certainty. But is there a chance that with the economy continuing to look strong, the Fed could skip a cut? Sarah Hansen checked in with some analysts and portfolio managers for their takes.

Equities are just shy of hitting fresh record highs, with the US Market Index up a healthy 20% this year. Meanwhile, bonds are posting low-single-digit returns. In our monthly screen for the best and worst stocks, AppLovin and MicroStrategy are among the top, while the bottom ranks include Estée Lauder and Super Micro Computer.

We’ve also got our weekly screen for newly undervalued stocks. This week, there were 16 such names, including Merck and Sanofi.

Of course, it’s earnings season out there. You can find Morningstar’s take on results from Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, along with our outlook for Starbucks.

Lastly, check out our interview with veteran money manager Jeremy Grantham, who’s made a study out of market bubbles. Morningstar’s Christine Benz and Dan Lefkovitz chat with him about the current frenzy around artificial intelligence stocks and whether he sees signs of a bubble.

As always, check out our Markets page for our latest coverage and live stock market updates, along with our weekly calendar of key upcoming data and events.

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