Many Wall Street executives have reservations about endorsing either candidate US presidential electionConcerned that former President Donald TrumpThe policies will harm the economy but the Vice President should be careful kamala harris Will lean too far to the left.
While several Wall Street stalwarts, including Bill Ackman, John Paulson and George Soros, have endorsed a candidate, according to The Conversation, many other senior executives still consider economic policies and the impact of legal and democratic institutions at the center of the closely contested race. Are doing. Two dozen officers in recent weeks.
Several officials said Republican nominee Trump’s policies risk creating economic and policy instability, despite his track record of implementing Wall Street-friendly measures.
While Harris would be a safe match, she has only been the Democratic nominee Since late July when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race And a big unknown remains, he said. Many worry the vice president will continue Biden’s regulatory crackdown on lucrative Wall Street businesses.
The officers included Republican and Democrat supporters, including a handful publicly supporting Trump or Harris, and others with no apparent partisan affiliation.
“Most people expect Trump to continue where he left off, which is certainly more populist, protectionist and aggressively deregulation,” said Bruce Mehlman, partner at Mehlman Consulting, a bipartisan lobbying firm with clients in all sectors.
“But they’re eager to better understand who Harris is and what she believes,” Mehlman said. That said, it doesn’t appear Harris’ Wednesday economic speech provided much insight for Wall Street firms.
Like his first presidency, Trump is promising to cut taxes and regulations, but most officials said his planned import tariffs could erode profits, leading to inflation, while tax cuts could increase the U.S. deficit. Is. Trump raised his planned tariffs in comments this week.
Carolyn Levitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said in a statement that Wall Street investors want Trump to win because they remember his policies “boosted growth, reduced inflation, and more money in everyone’s pockets.” kept.”
Paulson, a billionaire investor and Trump supporter, told Reuters on the sidelines of a September New York event at which Trump outlined his economic plan that the tariffs would raise revenue, which would help reduce the deficit.
Harris’s plan, which analysts predict would be better for the economy, calls for tax increases, likely to lower company earnings and stocks, but to partially offset the expected increase in the deficit. She has said little on financial policy, but has noted her tough stance on banks as a former prosecutor and said she will continue Biden’s attack on hidden bank fees.
A Harris spokesman pointed Reuters to the endorsement of hundreds of economists and CEOs.
In an email to Reuters, billionaire entrepreneur and Harris supporter Mark Cuban said stocks rose when company taxes were higher, adding: “Anything that’s a step toward reducing the deficit is a plus.” But he said both candidates were making promises they would not be able to keep. “Neither candidate’s policies contain any details about how they would pass.”
For many companies, a Harris White House and a Republican Senate, which would block tax increases and force Harris to pick moderates for top jobs, is the best-case scenario.
So far, donors tied to the securities and investment sectors have given $8.7 million to the Biden/Harris campaign, while about $3 million to Trump, data from non-partisan donation tracker OpenSecrets shows as of Aug. 21.
Those contributions, which are capped at thousands of dollars, come from individuals and political action committees (PACs) and are not as widespread as there are many other ways to send cash to support candidates.
stability, populism
Given the policy whiplash and personnel churn of Trump’s first presidency, his felonies, and role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, some officials also worried that Trump would undermine democracy and the rule of law. Some expressed concerns about the independence of the Federal Reserve, his stances on immigration and abortion.
Michael Bright, chief executive of the Structured Finance Association, a Washington lobby group representing lenders and investors, said that in addition to Jan. 6, some of his members are angry at Trump because of his role in helping overturn federal abortion rights while he was president. Had expressed. ,
“I would say financial services voters are pretty evenly divided,” said Bright, whom Trump nominated in 2018 to run government housing agency Ginnie Mae. Many people will vote for Harris “with their hearts,” he said.
The role of populism in personnel selection was another topic. Many officials were concerned that Harris would remain with Biden’s progressive agency heads, though some said they believed she could be friendlier to the industry than Biden.
John Haynes, Harris’s national campaign finance chairman in 2020 and CEO of corporate consultancy C Street Advisory Group, said, “She is practical and insightful.” He said Harris believes in sensible regulation that allows transparency and certainty.
Some officials said the more populist Trump and the Republican Party could choose inexperienced loyalists hostile to Wall Street to lead the agencies, though others believe he would again choose traditional industry conservatives.
Some said Trump’s appointment of Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as co-chairman of his transition team could be a good sign. Lutnick is using his Wall Street network to lobby for a potential second Trump administration.
Lindsey Johnson, CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association, said Trump “can bring a deep understanding of the people who were in the last administration who have a great deal of experience in the financial industry.”