New York Gov. David Patterson, a Democrat, is going to run for re-election. That wouldn't be big news coming from an incumbent, but it is now that The New York Times leaked the story that the Obama administration told him not to. Patterson is a weak candidate, and some analysts fear the governorship of a significant state could change parties.
Sen. Chris Dodd (D., Conn.) is in trouble in his re-election bid for a lot of reasons, starting with his alleged sweetheart mortgage deal from Angelo Mozilo and Countrywide. He might need a bit of a Hail Mary pass to catch up (sort of early for that, I think), but he has challenged the administration in an unusually bold way. The administration wants to enable the Fed to take greater control of financial matters, and Dodd is proposing a supercop sort of regulator that would roll four agencies into one, the Federal Reserve included. The thought that breaking from the president is a good idea by two prominent politicians could be interpreted as the president losing some juice domestically.
Foreign affairs don't favor President Obama either. The G-20 meeting kicks off this week in Pittsburgh, and while America is the host and has always dominated the agenda, the G-19 are restless as well. The last-minute agenda being put together will try to address broad changes to economic policies in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The U.S. should save more and reduce its deficit, China and Germany should rely less on exports and encourage domestic consumption, and Europe should boost business investment, says a report to be issued by the American delegation. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France will push hard on his agenda, and it will probably be obvious that the U.S. does not control the stage. There will be no overriding authority to enforce commitments, and it is not likely that the G-20 will be able to act as a global board of directors, as The Wall Street Journal wondered about in a Monday article.
Market Commentary Global Markets Trade in the Green 9/22/2009 6:45 AM EDT Shares in Europe rose Tuesday after markets in Asia ended relatively flat.
Market Commentary No Rush to Buy 9/21/2009 10:00 AM EDT Before re-entering the market, I want to carefully evaluate today's expected pullback.
Market Commentary Asia Stocks, S&P Futures, Head Higher 9/22/2009 1:49 AM EDT Asia stocks were trading higher Tuesday, with futures in Europe and the U.S. also posting gains.
Vincent Farrell Jr. is chief investment officer for Soleil Securities Group and a regular guest on CNBC and other national print and broadcast media.
Prior to joining Soleil in August 2008, Farrell was a principal of Scotsman Capital Management. Before that, he was chairman of Victory Capital Management of Cleveland and chairman of Victory SBSF Capital Management in New York. He was a founding partner of Spears Benzak Salomon & Farrell, which was acquired by KeyCorp in 1995. Vince held a variety of positions in his 23 years at SBSF, including chief investment officer, and he served as the portfolio manager on a number of the firm's largest client relationships.
Prior to joining SBSF, Vince spent nine years at Smith Barney as a vice president, sales.
Vince graduated from Princeton University in 1969 and received his MBA from the Iona College Graduate School of Business in 1972.
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