New York (HedgeCo.Net) – The results of a Wall Street Midterm Elections Survey by ConvergeEx Group are in, showing that Wall Street disapproves of Congress, Obama, and Washington in general.
“We are looking at the worst relationship between the financial services industry and Washington in living memory,” said Nicholas Colas, ConvergEx Group chief market strategist. “You would have to go back before the modern era of regulation to find comparable antagonism toward the federal government from Wall Street.”
- Just 17% of respondents say they approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as President, while 73% said they disapprove. (This compares with a 41% approval/54% disapproval rating for the President in polls of the general population.)
- Opinions of Congress are even lower, with just 8% approving of the job being done by lawmakers and 81% disapproving. (This compares with a 13% approval/79% disapproval rating for Congress in polls of the general population.) On handling issues of concern to the financial services industry, almost half (46%) give Congress a “D” or “F” grade.
With control of the U.S. Senate at stake, the preference of the financial industry is clear: 69% of respondents say they would like Republicans to be in control following the elections, a figure above the 65% who say they plan to vote Republican in their own House districts. By 61% to 14%, Republicans are trusted over Democrats on issues impacting the financial services industry.
For 8 of 9 market sectors, a higher percentage of respondents said equities would respond positively to a GOP win than to a Democratic win, with Energy (90% Republican vs. 11% Democrat) and Financials (88% Republican vs. 14% Democrat) seeing the greatest disparity. Only for the Heath Care sector (39% Republican vs. 64% Democrat) do more investors expect a positive outcome in response to Democrats holding the Senate.
Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net
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