Trump’s Election Leads to Stock Market Surge
American stocks posted their largest monthly gains for the year at the stock market’s close on November 29, 2024.
The results of the presidential election are in. Donald Trump’s election win ignited a market rally. Investors are counting on tax cuts and deregulation proposals to create higher corporate profits—and, therefore, higher stock prices. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes finished November in record territory for stock prices. This was their 53rd and 47th record closes for 2024.
While some on Wall Street are concerned about the impact of Trump’s promised tariffs, so far, the market considers his trade threats as an opening start to negotiations with other countries.
“This deregulation America-first sort of policy for now at least is sort of resonating,” according to MarketWatch.
The C Fund price has risen to $95.20 per share. At the end of 2023, the price per share was $74.36—a gain of more than 28% so far in 2024. The S Fund also appears to have set a new record. Its latest closing price was $96.98. The price per share at the end of 2023 was $77.09—a gain of 25.80% so far this year.
The 2024 returns are a follow-up to excellent returns in 2023. Last year, the C Fund had a return for investors of 26.25%. The S Fund had a return of 25.3%.
Number of TSP Millionaires Continue to Grow
With records being set in TSP stock prices, one would expect the number of millionaires in the Thrift Savings to increase. And, in fact, that is exactly what is happening.
At the end of 2023, there were 116,827 TSP millionaires. At the end of 2022, there were 76,889, which is a 52% increase in one year. Based on the latest data, at the end of September 2024, the number of millionaires was up to 155,334. With the new records now being set with stock prices, we can anticipate an even higher number of TSP millionaires by the end of 2024.
Your TSP Returns for November and 2024
| Fund | Price | Month-to-Date | Year-to-Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| G Fund | $18.6861 | 0.36% | 4.03% |
| F Fund | $19.8166 | 1.14% | 3.09% |
| C Fund | $95.2050 | 5.87% | 28.02% |
| S Fund | $96.9849 | 11.97% | 25.80% |
| I Fund | $43.1145 | -0.01% | 7.30% |
| L Income | $26.9197 | 1.51% | 8.09% |
| L 2025 | $13.8745 | 1.68% | 9.17% |
| L 2030 | $51.4016 | 2.94% | 13.63% |
| L 2035 | $15.5285 | 3.19% | 14.57% |
| L 2040 | $59.1436 | 3.45% | 15.51% |
| L 2045 | $16.2732 | 3.66% | 16.32% |
| L 2050 | $35.8513 | 3.88% | 17.14% |
| L 2055 | $18.1528 | 4.56% | 20.05% |
| L 2060 | $18.1507 | 4.56% | 20.05% |
| L 2065 | $18.1485 | 4.56% | 20.05% |
| L 2070 | $10.7533 | 4.54% | N/A |
Investors Slowly Trekking into C Fund: December 2022 – October 2024
The bull market in stocks is making a difference in how TSP participants allocate their investment funds. The number of TSP investors transferring funds in any given month is fairly small. But, over time, more distance trends emerge.
- As of December 31, 2022, 33.1% of funds were in the G Fund. 28.9% of funds were in the C Fund.
- At the end of December 2023, 27.7% of participant funds were allocated into the G Fund. 32% of funds were in the C Fund.
- At the end of October 2024, 24.6% of participant funds were allocated to the G Fund and 35.5% to the C Fund.
So, the number of inter-fund transfers is relatively small in any one month. Over time, it appears TSP investors do react to changes in the stock market trends. That is not a surprise.
People invest money to increase their assets. New trends are slow to develop. Once more people jump onto the bandwagon, no one wants to be left behind. As the C Fund has grown with a long-running bull market, more TSP investors have become aware of the trend and are trying to take advantage of it.
Of course, trying to time the market can result in losing money. We can anticipate that when the next bear market gets underway (no estimates from this writer on when that will occur—but it always does occur), TSP investors will start transferring money back into safer territory of the G Fund.
