The political backdrop may be chaotic but financial advisers say it still isn’t time to sell.
To be sure, US growth risks are rising under the Trump administration. The president’s trade-war push could raise prices for already strained consumers. And amid the pessimism, the S&P 500 has shed about 5.7% over the past two weeks through Tuesday.
But as shares gained on Wednesday, wealth experts had a familiar piece of advice for skittish investors: Don’t panic and pull your money.
“My guess is it will likely be very up and down until we have more certainty on tariffs,” said Sarah Maitre, founder of Camriel Advisors in California. “But it’s very difficult to time when to get back into equities and you may lose out on the upside.”
Rather, advisers Bloomberg News spoke with said to take stock of your positions and look for opportunities a selloff can provide. Here’s more on what they recommend to clients:
1. Lock in a higher rate on your cash with a CD
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For investors holding cash, some certificates of deposit (CD) are still offering attractive yields, and those rates will likely drop in the coming months if the Federal Reserve pursues rate cuts. For instance, Goldman Sachs’ consumer bank Marcus offers a 4.5% yield for those willing to lock up their cash for 14 months, while Barclays has a 12-month CD with a 4% yield.
2. Hunt for discounts in big-tech names
Compared to two weeks ago, shares are down in the Magnificent 7 stocks that have propelled the S&P 500 higher over the past two years. Tesla Inc. is down more than 20%, for instance, while Amazon.com Inc. is roughly 10% cheaper. This could be an opportunity to add exposure at a relative discount, said Dylan Bell, chief investment officer of CalBay Investments in Danville, California. He even sees 2025 as ultimately providing a positive year for markets, despite the recent drop.
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“Large tech stocks in particular have just crushed earnings repeatedly for the last couple years. And I think that’s what gives us confidence going forward,” Bell said. Some investors fled Big Tech in the wake of DeepSeek’s emergence as a threat to US dominance in artificial intelligence. But Bell sees large firms as being well positioned to survive any consolidation given their strong financial positions.
3. Check in on your geographic exposure
For some investors with portfolios heavily weighted toward the US, the recent market turbulence has been a wakeup call. With the narrative about “US exceptionalism” being called into question, now could be a good time to rebalance toward other regions, said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown in Bristol, England.
She notes that while the FTSE and other European indices have been rising and even hitting records lately, they are still undervalued relative to the US. What’s more, they are not as heavily exposed to Big Tech as the S&P 500 or Nasdaq 100, which could prove beneficial if there is a large rotation away from the sector. Investors could lock in profits from US indices — both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up roughly 15% from a year ago — and diversify into Europe.
“What the UK index offers is more defensive qualities, so a mix of pharma, finance, utilities, big consumer giants and also lots of dividend paying stocks,” she said. “That may be really interesting for those people focused on income rather than kind of big growth gains that they may have become used to.”
4. Keep calm about crypto
Bitcoin’s roughly 18% slide since an all-time high in January has been dramatic. No conventional adviser would tell individuals to go all into crypto. But experts in the space say it’s important to keep your time horizon in mind during periods of volatility, if you have invested.
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“We see that there is a floor for Bitcoin now just because of the new administration,” said Lale Akoner, global market analyst at eToro.
The president vowed to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve on the campaign trail, one of many crypto-related promises, and the surge in prices up until Trump’s inauguration has captured a new investment base.
“Once this short-term volatility decreases a little bit and we see more tangible communications and actions actually coming from the Trump administration,” Akoner said. “I think that is going to be more helpful.”
