These Two Assets May Have the Best Returns Under Trump, Say Investopedia’s Readers

Individual investors have curbed their enthusiasm in recent weeks amid new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on China and concerns that those will lead to escalating tensions and another spike in inflation. According to Investopedia’s most recent survey of our readers, just over 40% describe themselves as ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the stock market, the lowest level in a year and a 12 percentage point drop from November. One-third of respondents expect the stock market to fall 10% or more over the next six months, while 36% say they are making safer investments.

Tariffs, Inflation, and China Top Readers’ Concerns

Higher tariffs top the list of our investors’ worries, followed closely by inflation and relations with China. New to their list of concerns, however, is the rise of technological advancements in artificial intelligence (A.I.), and deepfakes with disinformation. The recent news that DeepSeek, an artificial intelligence company launched and owned by a Chinese hedge fund, had developed a competitive LLM to ChatGPT and OpenAI at a fraction of the cost sank popular semiconductor stocks like Nvidia (NVDA), as well as the mega-cap technology firms like Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOGL) who have spent tens of billions of dollars to build out their A.I. infrastructure. Those stocks are among the most widely held by individual investors and likely to be highly effected by advancements in both A.I. capability and massive decreases in the costs associated with training and operating them.

Readers Say Stocks, Crypto Will Have Best Returns Under Trump

More than 40% of respondents also think that individual stocks will be the best performing asset class under the new Trump administration over the next four years. Cryptocurrencies remain a distant second, favored by 17% of respondents, which might be attributable to the Trump administration’s recent policies and executive orders around that asset class, including the appointment of a Crypto Czar.

Where are the Bubbles?

In addition to a growing list of concerns that are adding to recent cautiousness, respondents continue to believe that several asset classes are overvalued. Top among them are Mega-cap tech stocks like Meta (META) and Alphabet (GOOGL), A.I. related stocks like Nvidia (NVDA), and cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin. While they may be worried about their valuations, investors continue to buy and hold the biggest mega-cap tech and A.I. stocks in their portfolios.

Investopedia Readers’ Favorite Stocks

Nvidia (NVDA) tops the list of our readers’ favorite stocks, followed by Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT). These are also the most widely held stocks by institutional investors, hedge funds and pension funds. Concerns about the over-concentration of the so-called Magnificent 7 stocks, which include these names along with Tesla (TSLA) and Meta (META), has been a constant concern for investors since 2022. These seven stocks account for over 30% percent of the market value of the entire S&P 500. But that concern is not dissuading respondents from wanting to own most of these stocks for the next ten years, according to our survey.

What Would You Do With an Extra $10,000?

Our readers have been fairly consistent about where they would put an additional $10,000 if they had it, given their responses over the past six months. Individual stocks are their top choice, and have been since last summer. Given the outperformance of individual stocks like Nvidia, Super Micro Computer (SMCI), and Carvana (CVNA), compared to the S&P 500 in 2023 and 2024, their preference is understandable.

Keep the Fed Independent

More than half of respondents approve of the way the Federal Reserve has handled monetary policy, with 21% saying they disapprove. But they are pretty clear about maintaining the central bank’s independence from the executive branch of the government. Sixty-five percent of respondents say they do not believe that President Trump should have input on interest rates, even though he has indicated that he should.