Election 2024: Where To Put Your Money Ahead of the Vote

In this recurring series, The Fly recaps where the top analysts on Wall Street say to put your money ahead of November’s U.S. presidential election. In this edition, CNBC’s Jim Cramer points out media stocks he thinks will stand out as the presidential race tightens and Donald Trump blames Kamala Harris for the stock market’s plunge.

MEDIA STOCKS: CNBC’s Jim Cramer last Wednesday pointed to the three media stocks he thinks will do well as the presidential race tightens: Fox (FOX), The New York Times (NYT) and Nexstar (NXST). Cramer said that a lot of Fox’s growth potential comes from its live programming, specifically sports and news, noting the extensive deals with the NFL and college football. Fox News is also likely to bring in a substantial number of viewers in the months leading up to the November vote, he added. Cramer also recommended The New York Times, saying a close election or a win by Donald Trump would boost the stock. He suggested the former president drove more news engagement and helped boost the Times’ subscriber growth. Shares of the media company rallied more than 338% from Election Day in 2016 to President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, according to FactSet. Nexstar could also benefit from a close election, Cramer said, but with the caveat that the company is “more of a trade than an investment.” Cramer said Nexstar is small enough that the “influx of ad dollars has the potential to move the needle.” Post-election, however, he said Nexstar will continue to face challenges plaguing many traditional TV companies.

BLAME GAME: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday blamed Vice President Kamala Harris for the stock market’s dramatic plunge, months after claiming he deserved credit for the market’s then-record upswing. “Of course there is a massive market downturn. Kamala is even worse than Crooked Joe,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social about Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. The Harris campaign pushed back with its own attack against Trump’s economic record. “Donald Trump had the worst jobs record of any modern president, and oversaw some of the worst days in the stock market in history while spending his presidency lining the pockets of his wealthy friends who shipped American jobs overseas,” Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement. “What middle class families need is steady economic stewardship, not chaotic ranting lies.”