Nearly a century of US stock market returns suggests that making investment decisions based on control of the chambers of Congress is unlikely to lead to better investment outcomes.
- From 1926 to 2022, stocks trended higher regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans controlled the House and the Senate, or whether control was mixed.
- Actions by Congress and the other branches of the federal government may impact returns, but other factors like geopolitical events, interest rate changes, and technological advances do too. Decades of research suggest that current market prices incorporate all of this information.
- Shareholders invest in companies, not a political party, and companies focus on serving their customers and growing their businesses, regardless of what happens in Washington.
Stocks tend to reward disciplined investors no matter who has the upper hand in the House and Senate—a useful lesson about the benefits 1926 of a long-term investment approach.
