Apriem’s co-CIO Benjamin Lau was recently featured in a TheStreet.com article discussing the future of the technology sector post election. Below is a short excerpt:
Some market gurus say it’s not difficult to see why tech executives stayed away from Trump. “A lot of Trump’s rhetoric during the campaign were hot button issues for the technology sector: globalization and immigration,” says Benjamin Lau, co-chief investment officer and principal at Irvine, Calif.-based Apriem Advisors. “More than most, tech is a global sector. Many gadgets we use daily – from smartphones to laptops – are built overseas. This sector also is heavily dependent on immigration to satisfy their huge demand for more and more engineers through their use of the H-1B visa program. Eighteen of the top 25 H1-B visa sponsors are technology companies.”
Lau says that if Trump pushes through policies that could hamper globalization and immigration, it could disproportionately affect the technology sector. “The policies a new President actually pushes through versus what the market expects to happen can be quite different,” he cautions. “Eight years ago, investors worried about what the newly elected President would do to the healthcare sector. Despite the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, the health care sector has been one of the top performing sectors during President Obama’s time in new office.”