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Investors assess their U.S. exposure as uncertainty creates concerns — and opportunities
As investors assess whether the U.S. is still a good place to put their money, the list of events in the country making global headlines just keeps growing. Front of mind for investors is both U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs regime — with much anticipated talks between the U.S. and China taking place in London on Monday — and the spending bill , which could allow the U.S. to add a new tax of up to 20% on foreigners with U.S. investments. Indeed, the market volatility under Trump's presidency so far has led some investors to diversify to other markets to ride it out. BofA fund flows data has shown investors fleeing U.S. equities and piling into Europe and Japan this year. "Policy uncertainty has risen in recent months, both globally and particularly in the U.S., and we think that will continue to inform debates among investors about the right exposure to U.S. assets," Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Allianz-owned Moneyfarm, told CNBC Monday. Over the weekend, riots in LA became the latest news to make headlines around the world as protesters demonstrating against federal immigration raids clashed with law enforcement . Investors said that no immediate market impact was expected from the ongoing riots, but they would be watching the Trump administration's response closely. "The riots themselves, I don't think are going to make things any worse — unless, of course, this goes on for another couple of weeks, or it spreads to other cities in the U.S.," Rami Cassis, founder of family office Parabellum Investments, told CNBC Monday in a phone call. "It's something we've seen in LA before, and I think most investors will see it just as that and hope that things settle down. The administration's response, on the other hand, means that they're a little bit more under the microscope, and how they address this is going to be telling." As the unrest continued, U.S. President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to the city , federalizing part of California's National Guard that would ordinarily be under the control of state governor Gavin Newsom — who lashed out at the White House's response to the unrest. Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media that U.S. Marines were "on high alert" and would be mobilized if violence continued in the city. Cassis added that the Trump administration's reaction to the LA protests so far "don't reflect well on an administration looking to resolve this in a sensible way." "I think the other concern is Trump's position on legal and illegal immigration, I think, is likely to eventually be a risk for the U.S. economy in terms of how its workforce is made up and access to resources," Cassis said. 'Surprisingly resilient' U.S. market Iain Barnes, chief investment officer at London-based wealth manager Netwealth, agreed that the response to the riots, rather than the event itself, was likely to strike a chord with investors who had already had their confidence in the U.S. shaken . "Taken on their own, we don't see the images of police and national guard on streets in LA as a signal for investors' views on the U.S. to change, but it does keep U.S. politics in market focus and will give global investors another excuse to say that the outlook for the world's biggest stock market has deteriorated," he explained. "The socially conservative standpoint on issues like immigration was expected, so it's the economic policies that have dented the confidence of domestic and international investors so far." Despite this, Barnes noted on Monday that nearly six months into Trump's second term, the U.S. market continued to look "surprisingly resilient given what's been thrown at it." Despite volatility, the S & P 500 index is still over 12% higher over the last 12 months. .SPX YTD mountain S & P 500 "Profit margins are at historically strong levels, spurring a strong rebound since the Liberation Day-induced panic so valuations remain our primary concern here," he said. "Heat has come out of the labor market and inflation is also cooling for now." He added that some areas of the U.S. actually looked ripe for investment. "We think the real yields on offer from U.S. Treasuries are increasingly attractive, should the growth profile deteriorate once the 90-day pause on Trump's 'reciprocal' tariff rates expires in early July," he said. "We still expect passive diversification away from U.S. assets over the medium term, but on a more cyclical view U.S. dollar weakness is likely to slow, if not revert." Pivot to Europe? Speaking on CNBC's "Europe Early Edition" Monday, John Blank, chief equity strategist at Zacks Investment Research, said broad diversification away from the U.S. was unlikely to end any time soon. "There's a regime shift away from the Trump administration, and the Trump administration's going to be with us — at least in this form, [with] control of both houses — for another 18 months. So it's very hard to say that people are going to change the thematic around avoiding a dominant Trump country, the United States, any time soon," he said. Europe was currently a good alternative to the U.S. for investors, Blank argued. "I think the fundamentals of the infrastructure packages , the defense packages , and the open arms Europe has shown for the Middle East and Canada and China, all of that's going to track interest in Europe in a way that we haven't seen in a while," he told CNBC. "Given how this president likes to not only tear up but put down immigration, put down international students, I cannot imagine anything but that creating a relative bid for European equities and European investment in a more direct sense as well."
