Innovation will be new currency of 2017
found thing for the whole technology industry,” he says.
TRUMP PLAYS
As President-elect Trump takes office, he and the Republicancontrolled Congress will likely introduce changes that will steer investment decisions. One of Trump’s biggest proposals is less regulation. “Financials are again big beneficiaries there” from fewer rules especially those connected with how much capital banks must have, says David Kostin, chief U.S. equity strategist at Goldman Sachs. Another winning theme will be U.S. companies paying relatively high tax rates. These companies stand to be more profitable, all things held equal, for just paying lower taxes. “They’re going to go to a lower tax rate, which means that will free up a lot of cash flow that can be used for a different purpose,” Kostin says.
CONNECTED CARS One theme that pulls together several of the others is the rise of the connected car. Cloud com- puting will make vast amounts of entertainment and other data available in vehicles on the move. Artificial intelligence will kick in with self-driving vehicles being the most high-profile example. Meanwhile, software and auto component makers will see such strong demand they could be in- sulated from the vagaries of the economy. The bottom line? Making money in 2017 will be about profiting from the new currency: Innovation, be that in the cloud or in the car in ways that fit with the new administration’s rules. “Innovation is nothing but a version of intellectual property,” Bhansali says. “There are ways in which to participate in these developments.”