So Obama is President... Now What? Here Are Some Investment Ideas..

November 5, 2008 1:15 PM EST

With the election of Barack Obama as the next President of the US of A, investors are out in force today looking for ways to play the "new America". Here is a list, broken down by sector, of stocks that could either benefit or be harmed given proposed initiatives from the US's new, democratic Commander-in-Chief.

Could Benefit:

• Health Insurers - Obama has certainly been an advocate of expanding health-care coverage to the middle-class; he plans to cut health costs, which would help every American find affordable coverage.
  Related stocks: Humana (NYSE: HUM), UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH), WellPoint (NYSE: WLP)
  
• Infrastructure - along the campaign trail, Obama pledged to put spending on roads and bridges near the top of his economic agenda as he has previously made it clear that he feels infrastructure growth is one of the best ways to stimulate the US economy.
  Related stocks: Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Terex (NYSE: TEX), Deere (NYSE: DE)
  
• Automakers - promised to deliver "fast track" money to automakers and while campaigning Obama said in a speech said that the government should provide "more as needed". Obama has also proposed that the US could have at least 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the roads by 2015 and has previously offered families a $7,000 tax credit if they purchased one of these efficient vehicles.
  Related stocks: General Motors (NYSE: GM), Ford (NYSE: F)
  
• Renewable/Alternative Energy - has proposed $150 billion in spending over the next 10 years to create jobs in the solar, wind and clean energy sectors and has also announced plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.
  Related stocks: First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR), Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK), Capstone Turbine (Nasdaq: CPST)
  
• Defensive - although voters have been previously concerned with Obama's perspective on national defense, many pundits now feel that Obama will continue to maintain record levels of defense spending.
  Related stocks: Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC)

Could Be Harmed:

• Drugmakers - Obama wants to give Medicare the authority to negotiate medicine prices for its drug plans, something that fomer-President Bush was opposed to.
  Related stocks: Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Merck (NYSE: MRK), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY)
  
• Airlines - given indications that Obama would strengthen airline regulation, maintain limits on foreign ownership of US airline companies, speed-up air-traffic control upgrades and improve controllers working conditions, many pundits believe the airline stocks could face higher labor costs under an Obama adminstration.
  Related stocks: Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), Delta (NYSE: DAL), AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR)
  
• Oil Well Services & Equipment - although President-elect Obama has previously said that he will find compromises related to offshore drilling of oil and natural-gas, individuals are now unclear whether Obama will block areas of potentially new offshore drilling sites given the recent slide in oil.
  Related stocks: Transocean (NYSE: RIG), Diamond Offshore (NYSE: DO), Atwood Oceanics (NYSE: ATW)

While these investment ideas are just that, one thing can be certain: it will be interesting to see if Barack Obama can deliver on the change he has promised America as the next President.

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