Video taking off 21x its usual first day

Tom Lee expects a strong year-end despite investors' nerves

His CNBC interview connects market optimism with political gridlock, while a separate AI-trade debate also draws an unusually large audience.

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CNBC Television Story of November 3, 2026Trari Newsroom

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Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 256,813 views a day, 21 times a normal first day on this channel (12,074).

Still see markets ending the year strong: Fundstrat's Tom Lee

Things we can learn from the video

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0:43Lee expects markets to finish the year strongly despite investors' concerns about war, AI spending, debt and the Fed.
1:43He says markets can prefer political gridlock because it limits policy changes.
2:04Lee predicts House Democrats will support AI investment after the midterms because it brings money to their communities.
2:41He says election polls and prediction markets are largely aligned.
4:10Lee considers Republicans outperforming those expectations the bigger potential election surprise.

Joe Kernen puts the question directly to Fundstrat's Tom Lee: after the Nasdaq's drop, does he still expect a rebound before the year ends?

"I do think markets are going to exit the year strong," Lee replies on CNBC's Squawk Box. That confidence comes with an acknowledgment that the investors he speaks to have plenty to worry about, including war, AI spending, debt and the Federal Reserve.

The interview has reached about 190,000 views before its first full day is over, already far beyond CNBC Television's usual first-day audience of roughly 12,000 for regular videos.

Lee's election argument is less about a particular party delivering a market boost than about Washington doing less. He says markets can prefer political gridlock because it limits changes in policy. On AI, he predicts House Democrats will support investment after the midterms because it brings money into their communities.

Kernen also asks whether prediction markets offer a better election guide than traditional polling. Lee says the two are largely aligned this time, and that Republicans performing better than both anticipate would be the bigger surprise.

There is a more questioning counterpart elsewhere on the channel: "The Investment Committee debates whether the AI trade is in trouble" is also drawing an unusually large early audience. Lee's interview keeps the year-end optimism intact; that separate discussion puts one of investors' central worries directly in its title.

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