Should Investors Root For Trump Or Clinton? Go With The 'Devil You Know'

• The cover story in this weekend's Barron's makes a case for Hillary Clinton as a better president for investors.
• Barron's is not endorsing Clinton so much as selecting "the devil you know."
• Other featured articles include a special report on America's top 1,200 financial advisors.

Which of the two front-runner presidential candidates will be better for investors, asks this week's cover story in Barron's. And how likely is it that Republicans will hold their noses and vote for Hillary in 2016?

"Trump or Clinton: Who's Better for Investors?" by John Kimelman suggests that Trump's giant tax cuts would balloon the federal deficit, while his plan for tariffs on China could plunge the world into recession. But Clinton has called out Wall Street for wrecking Main Street during the financial crisis, and her desire to raise taxes on short-term capital gains isn't exactly good news for investors.

In the wake of last week's Super Tuesday results, Barron's has sized up each candidate's positions on taxes, spending, trade and other issues that directly affect markets. And Barron's take is that Clinton seems better suited to help the markets than the Republican front-runner.

"Hillary would be fairly predictable, and markets like predictability," says a strategist quoted in the article. "She is a bit more moderate than Obama, and despite all the concerns that she would repeat the Obama agenda, she would be more willing to compromise."

Barron's makes it clear that it is neither endorsing Hillary Clinton for president of the United States nor is it saying that she would be the best possible president for investors. But it sees professional investors considering her "because the devil you know is better than the one you don't know."

The article includes a side-by-side look at how the two candidates stand on individual and corporate income taxes, on capital gains and the estates tax, as well as on trade. See the myriad reasons analysts and investors have for disliking Trump, and the many pros and cons of choosing Clinton instead.

See also: Barron's Picks & Pans: Martin Marietta Materials, Deutsche Bank, Mylan And More

Other Feature Stories

Check out the special report on America's top 1,200 financial advisors to discover how the best advisors in each state and the District of Columbia are guiding clients through shaky markets. Barron's annual listing of the best financial advisors features 15 new faces. The top advisors are listed by state, with the number of ranking spots determined by each state's population and wealth. The rankings are based on assets under management, revenues generated by advisors for their firms and the quality of the advisors' practices, and the top 51 state champs are profiled.

See what Barron's feels are the prospects for Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. MLM with construction spending on the rise, Deutsche Bank AG DB if it loses the right to run U.S. retirement funds, Mylan NV MYL after rejecting an acquisition bid, as well as BMC Stock Holdings Inc. STCK as a bet on the housing recovery.

At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.

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Image credit: Marc Nozell, Flickr