As the highly-anticipated US presidential election draws nearer, 49% of American retail investors are planning to or have already “adjusted” their investment portfolios based on what they think will happen. This, according to an extensive update shared by investing and trading platform eToro.
According to data from the latest quarterly Retail Investor Beat, from trading and investing platform eToro, investors who are planning ahead due to the election are “increasing their cash assets (42%) and purchasing more stocks (35%) and crypto-assets (20%).”
In the study of 1,000 U.S. retail investors, Gen Z (69%) and Millennials (68%) are taking the most active approach. Millennials (32%) are more than twice as likely than their Boomer parents (14%) to have already “adjusted their portfolios.”
And the majority of the older generations: Gen X (51%), Boomers (63%), and Silent Generation (60%) have not and will “not adjust their portfolios before the election.”
Gen Z is leading the race into equities with almost half of the demographic (49%) planning to or already “purchasing more stocks” whereas investors of the Silent Generation (47%), Millennials (46%), and Boomers (43%) are increasing their “cash allocations.”
Overall, retail investors remain “bullish” on financial services making it the top held sector (58%) followed by technology (51%) and energy (41%). However, the data showed a “generational difference” in what retail investors have been buying — “especially in technology.”
Gen Z (68%) and the Silent Generation (55%) both saw “a 20 percentage point increase in tech ownership from the previous quarter, while all other generations saw a decrease.”
When it comes to the Magnificent 7, respondents of all ages were most likely to have “invested more” or “plan to invest more” in Amazon (26%) than any other Magnificent 7 holdings.
On the other side, Tesla was the “least popular” with 36% indicating they have not or do not plan to invest in the stock , just above Alphabet (35%) and Nvidia (34%).
About this report
The latest Retail Investor Beat was based “on a survey of 10,000 retail investors across 12 countries and 3 continents.”
The following countries had 1,000 respondents: UK, US, Germany, France, Australia, Italy and Spain.
The following countries had 600 respondents: Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic.
The survey was conducted from August 16 – September 2 2024 and carried out by research company Opinium.
Retail investors were defined as “self-directed” or “advised” and had to hold at least one investment product including shares, bonds, funds, investment ISAs or equivalent.
As clarified in the update, they did not need to be eToro users.