The Republican Party swept to victory last evening. The Grand Old Party recaptured the Upper House taking away at least 8 seats and potentially a ninth seat in Louisiana next month and extended its majority by twelve seats in the House of Representatives. As it now stands, the GOP has 53 seats in the Senate. Furthermore, the Republicans picked up a net of three Governorships, including heavily Democratic states of Massachusetts and Illinois.
Expect Some Post-Election Political Maneuvering
The election has clearly created some winners and losers in the political arena. Plus I think that you will see some interesting aftershocks to the election. Here are my post-election political Gut Feelings:
- Harry Reid will voluntarily step down as leader of his party in the Senate. Nancy Pelosi will be forced out behind closed doors as the House minority leader
- The Clintons were big losers last night. Both the Senate and Governor races were taken by Republicans in the Clinton home state of Arkansas. Also their electioneering failed to produce any significant winners. The Clintons may be down but not exactly out. However, if Hillary makes a run at the White House, clearly she has lost some advantage and is more vulnerable to competition.
- West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, will pull an Arlen Specter move, switching party affiliation from Democratic to Republican, just as Specter switched from Republican to Democrat after the Obama election sweep of 2008.
- Expect heads to fall at the White House – senior executives and some cabinet secretaries will get the axe. A complete shakeup could occur in the State Department.
At Seton Hall University, I will be participating in a post-election panel discussion at 5PM in the 4th floor Atrium of Jubilee Hall. It should be interesting. Feel free to join. Given that round table discussion and an earlier student/faculty lunchtime post-election discussion which I moderate, I am going to cancel this week’s live chat and reschedule for next week.
Markets Headed to New Highs
Futures slowly began to rally when the 51st Senate seat was captured by the Republicans. That was extended in the morning by a positive ADP (ADP) jobs report. Clearly, the S&P 500 (SPX) will trade to new highs this morning and I believe will hold into the close.
Expect Republican friendly stocks such as defense, energy, financials, healthcare technology, pharmaceuticals and retail to get a boost from the election results. Jazz Pharmaceuticals looks to trade higher by about 4% after a strong earnings report.
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Disclosure: At the time of this commentary Scott Rothbort, his family and/or clients of LakeView AssetManagement, LLC was long JAZZ— although positions can change at any time.
LakeView Asset Management, LLC is a registered investment advisor specializing in high net worth private wealth management. For more information on investing with LakeView Asset Management, LLC call us at 888-9LAKEVIEW or request more information by clicking on the contact button on the top right hand corner of the website
Scott Rothbort is also the publisher of the LakeView Restaurant & Food Chain Report, a newsletter focusing in on food, restaurant and agricultural stocks. A subscription is included with a paid Platinum Membership to Wall Street All-Stars or an individual subscription to the newsletter which can be ordered at www.restaurantstox.com
– Read Scott’s intra-day thoughts and comments on Scutify
– You can email Scott at scott.rothbort.lakeview@l.com
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Disclosure: At the time of this commentary Scott Rothbort, his family and/or clients of LakeView AssetManagement, LLC had no positions in stocks mentioned — although positions can change at any time.
LakeView Asset Management, LLC is a registered investment advisor specializing in high net worth private wealth management. For more information on investing with LakeView Asset Management, LLC call us at 888-9LAKEVIEW or request more information by clicking on the contact button on the top right hand corner of the website
Scott Rothbort is also the publisher of the LakeView Restaurant & Food Chain Report, a newsletter focusing in on food, restaurant and agricultural stocks. A subscription is included with a paid Platinum Membership to Wall Street All-Stars or an individual subscription to the newsletter which can be ordered at www.restaurantstox.com
– Read Scott’s intra-day thoughts and comments on Scutify
– You can email Scott at scott.rothbort.lakeview@gmail.com
