Tom Lee: Still bullish on U.S. stocks' year-end performance, fading uncertainty may drive sidelined funds into the market

November 3 — Tom Lee, Chairman of Ethereum treasury company BitMine, said in an interview with CNBC that despite recent market pressure, he still expects U.S. stocks to end the year with strong performance. He noted that investors are simultaneously worried about war, AI spending, the debt market, the Federal Reserve, inflation, and the midterm elections, but the market has still shown resilience under these pressures. If some uncertainties fade, sidelined capital could re-enter the market.

Speaking about the midterm elections, Tom Lee believes the market to some extent prefers policy gridlock, because it avoids too many policy changes, and the presidential veto remains very important. Regarding concerns that Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress could affect data center construction, he holds a different view: Democratic representatives will support AI after the election, because related investment can bring funds to local communities and benefit jobs and the economy.

On prediction markets, Tom Lee said that in 2024 there was a clear divergence between prediction markets and polls, providing investors with a relatively strong signal; but in this midterm election, the two are almost aligned, both pointing to a Democratic sweep, so he believes the incremental signal from prediction markets is not as strong as in 2024.