Las Vegas Sands’ Stock Takes Hits as Donald Trump’s Reelection Odds Shorten

Las Vegas Sands is in a strange position. The business founded by the late Sheldon Adelson, a staunch Republican supporter, has not deviated from its pro-GOP line under the control of Miriam Adelson, Mr. Adelson’s wife.

LVS’ Stock Experiences the Jitters as Trump’s Chances Grow Steadily

Yet, as the polls continue to steadily increase in favor of Donald Trump, now the official GOP nominee for president, over the incumbent, Joe Biden, Las Vegas Sands’ stock is continuing to tumble.

Trading at $$53.96 on April 3, the stock has now dropped to $42.34 as of July 17. At least some of this is attributable to Mr. Trump’s reelection chances. This is not entirely surprising, as under Mr. Trump’s first stint at the highest office in the free world, gaming equities with exposure to China lost a quarter of their value.

This has mostly to do with Mr. Trump’s gung-ho approach towards China and his incessant saber-rattling that threatens hefty tariffs on import goods, along with tighter restrictions on access to American intellectual property and technology for the country’s arguably most serious geopolitical rival.

Yet, many of these politics have been introduced in his first time in office, and continued or even strengthened under Mr. Biden.

Fear Not, Mr. Musk and Mrs. Adelson Come to the Rescue

For Las Vegas Sands, this increasingly fraught relationship could mean choppier seas ahead with the company having to balance a tight diplomatic rope where it doesn’t end on the receiving end of Beijing’s retribution, because of the company’s exposure in Macau.

However, skeptics are moderately optimistic. Mr. Trump’s second turn would be surrounded by a mix of pundits and technocrats with a totalitarian streak, but he would also include important backers who have a stake in the Chinese market, such as Elon Musk, a technological entrepreneur behind Tesla, SpaceX, and as of a year now – X, a social media platform previously known as Twitter.

Mrs. Adelson has already vowed $100 million to Mr. Trump’s campaign, had she may too advocate for the normalization of ties between Beijing and Washington.

Mr. Musk has been given a rare exemption in China, allowing his Tesla cars to operate without restrictions across the country after Beijing previously said that it would limit Tesla models from parking near critical infrastructure, government buildings, and other places considered to be of national security relevance.

This change of heart could indicate that Beijing expects a second term for Mr. Trump in November and is willing to make sure that it does not burn all bridges there are. Gaming stocks may indeed take a hit, mostly because of skittish investors, but they should stabilize overall.

However, it’s still interesting to see that Mr. Trump’s chances of reelection, as envisioned by political betting exchanges and websites, are tied to at least a partial business downturn for his backers.