- Tuesday, November 4 is US Election Day. The presidency, one third of the seats in the Senate and the entire House of Representative are up for the vote.
- Barack Obama has been ahead of John McCain for most of the campaign, and has recently seen his lead increase. Recent polls suggest a landslide victory to the Democrats is within reach. We take a look at the political environment facing each of the candidates.
- Regardless of who takes over the Oval Office in January, the new president will face enormous chal-lenges, with the US economy in its worst condition for decades and a financial system in chaos. We take a look at the major differences between the two candidates on macroeconomic issues.
- Wall Street clearly points to Obama as the president it has the greater faith in, reflecting a desire for a new start that can re-establish the consumer and investor trust that is essential for the economy and the financial markets to function. What impact will the election have on equity markets and sectors?
Caution! Risk of landslide ahead
Do not forget the election On Tuesday, November 4, US voters will head for the ballot box to vote for the next president of the USA, who will be sworn in on January 20, 2009.
So far, the election has not attracted that much attention in the markets due to the financial crisis. However, the election to the most prominent public office in the Western World is the main event of the week. Americans will have to choose be-tween Arizona senator John McCain (R) and Barack Obama (D) – senator for Illinois.
The election comes at a critical time for the US and for Wall Street – a time when the world‟s lead-ing economy is on its knees due to a credit crisis that is rapidly becoming the greatest economic challenge for the US since the Second World War.
Policy differences between Barack Obama and John McCain are likely to prove important for fu-ture responses to the current financial and economic crisis.
