US equity funds record $140bn of inflows on Trump’s ‘pro-growth’ agenda

Right this moment’s agenda: Macron vows to remain on; DEI on the retreat; Yoon faces impeachment vote; Huge Learn on Chinese language exports beneath Trump 2.0; and the FT’s most influential girls of 2024

Good morning. Buyers have pumped nearly $140bn into US fairness funds because the election, making November the busiest month for inflows on information stretching to 2000.

What’s behind the surge? Merchants are betting that Donald Trump’s vows to chop laws and taxes shall be a boon to company America. One fund supervisor cited the president-elect’s “market-friendly” picks for top posts, together with financier Scott Bessent for Treasury secretary and crypto fanatic Paul Atkins as Securities and Alternate Fee chair. A Deutsche Financial institution strategist additionally mentioned strong projections for financial progress, company earnings and family money balances advised the development of recent inflows may proceed into subsequent 12 months, albeit at a slower tempo.

Why it issues: The flood of recent cash has helped to drive the foremost US inventory indices to a sequence of document highs — the S&P 500 has risen 5.3 per cent since election day — with merchants shrugging off issues that Trump’s deliberate tariffs may drive up inflation and threaten additional rate of interest cuts. Whereas the US has persistently outperformed areas corresponding to Europe lately, the query is whether or not this narrative of “American exceptionalism” has gone too far of late. The US is “over-owned, overvalued and overhyped”, Ruchir Sharma wrote this week. “As with all bubbles, it’s exhausting to know when this one will deflate, or what is going to set off its decline.” Read more about the record inflows.

For extra on markets from Rob, join the Unhedged e-newsletter here should you’re a premium subscriber or improve your subscription here. Right here’s what else we’re protecting tabs on at the moment and over the weekend:

• Financial information: The EU publishes its third-quarter GDP estimate, Germany releases its industrial manufacturing index for October, and the US has jobs figures and information from the College of Michigan’s shopper sentiment survey.

• South Korea: President Yoon Suk Yeol faces an impeachment vote tomorrow. The nation’s central financial institution chief informed the Monetary Instances that the martial regulation disaster had delayed critical economic reforms however that Trump’s tariff threats had been of larger concern.

• Elections: Ghana holds presidential and parliamentary polls tomorrow. Romania has a presidential run-off vote the subsequent day, tainted by official accusations of Russian meddling.

Be part of us subsequent Wednesday as Monetary Instances editor Roula Khalaf and different FT consultants focus on their predictions for the world in 2025. Register here.

5 extra high tales

1. Emmanuel Macron has vowed to not step apart earlier than the top of his time period, saying opposition events “selected chaos” by bringing down his premier in a historic no-confidence vote. The French president’s time period runs till 2027, however the ousting of Michel Barnier’s authorities is fuelling opposition calls for him to step down early.

2. A US decide has rejected Boeing’s responsible plea settlement stemming from twin crashes of the 737 Max, citing range, fairness and inclusion concerns in deciding on a company monitor to supervise compliance with the deal. A decide in Texas mentioned utilizing the factors would “undermine confidence” that the selection was based on competency.

• DEI pullback: US corporations are accelerating their retreat from such initiatives amid an all-out assault from conservatives emboldened by the election of Donald Trump.

• ‘Anti-woke’ ETF: A brand new fund aiming to punish corporations targeted on DEI is making Starbucks its first target.

3. Unique: Thames Water has acquired a bid from Covalis Capital that will see France’s Suez flown in to assist handle a break-up of the UK’s largest water utility earlier than itemizing it on the inventory market. The proposal got here forward of yesterday’s deadline for indicative bids for Thames, which is saddled with almost £19bn of debt and risks running out of cash in the new year.

4. Donald Trump has named enterprise capitalist David Sacks because the White Home’s synthetic intelligence and cryptocurrency tsar. Sacks, a confidant of Elon Musk, was one of many earliest and most vocal Silicon Valley supporters of Trump, internet hosting a fundraiser for the candidate in San Francisco in June. Here’s what we know about the former PayPal executive.

5. The capturing of a UnitedHealth government in Manhattan has triggered broad issues about company safety, with massive corporations dashing to evaluate whether or not their high staff have adequate safety. Safety chiefs of teams on either side of the Atlantic are sharing intelligence and making inquiries with specialist companies on how to shield top executives.

• ‘Deny’, ‘defend’, ‘depose’: New York detectives are investigating inscriptions of words on bullet casings left on the scene of government Brian Thompson’s homicide.

How nicely did you retain up with the information this week? Take our quiz.

The Huge Learn

Is China’s manufacturing juggernaut operating out of street? Donald Trump’s return will pose one of many sternest checks but for the nation’s formidable export sector. As home demand suffers from a deep property droop, Beijing is beneath strain to rethink the economic system’s increasing dependence on outbound trade.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• World chip struggle: The race for semiconductor dominance has entered murky waters because the business ponders tariffs and extra beneath Trump 2.0, writes Chris Miller, writer of Chip Warfare.

• ‘Chancellor of peace’: Because the struggle in Ukraine drags on, Germany’s Olaf Scholz is attempting to paint his rivals as warmongers forward of a snap vote in February.

• Sick man of Europe? Information reveals a story about Britain’s illness-related inactivity disaster appears wrong or at best overrated, writes John Burn-Murdoch.

• Rachel Reeves: In an op-ed for the FT, the UK chancellor explains how she goals to ship the federal government’s new “plan for change” by bringing enterprise innovation into Whitehall.

Chart of the day

Donald Trump, a self-described “Tariff Man”, will discover import taxes a careless and infrequently ineffective manner of asserting American energy, writes Alan Beattie. Fairly merely, the US just isn’t that big in global trade any extra.

The FT’s Girls of 2024

From Charli XCX of “brat” fame to Europe’s former competitors commissioner Margrethe Vestager, we have a good time the ladies who’re remaking the world we reside in at the moment. Learn FT Weekend’s listing of 25 of the world’s most influential women, written by the world’s most influential girls.