Politics
(Washington)
The midterm elections are currently dominated by two incompatible assumptions. Democrats think Trump’s low approval rating and the rash of Republican congressional retirements will lead to a big string of victories for their party. Republicans hope that growing economic confidence, underpinned by the White House’s policies, will win out. The big X-factor is now the stock market, which has been gutted over the last few days, a fact which could rattle the economic confidence of Americans. Democrats need 24 seats in the House to take back a majority. Many suspect they will win 30.
FINSUM: Trump and the Republican party are up against history (the party of the President typically does poorly in midterms), and now possibly the markets and economy.
(Washington)
InvestmentNews has done a broad survey of US financial advisors’ views of Trump and the results are in. The survey was of 745 advisor readers of the site and the study found that Trump was more popular among advisors than the general public. 50% of advisors approved of Trump while 44.8% disapproved. This compares to 39.9% and 55.6% amongst the general public. However, many advisors said they approved of Trump from a financial perspective but disliked his overall behavior.
FINSUM: We are uniquely placed to comment on this given all the reader feedback we get. We would say that, if anything, this poll discounts the president’s support amongst the advisor community.
(Washington)
This week’s news has been rife with articles on President Trump and his apparent push to try to firm special counsel Mueller over the summer. Now Bloomberg has put out an article commenting on the implication of such an effort (if it is true). In a balanced view, Bloomberg says that such behavior, even if true, would not add to any obstruction of justice case against Trump, and that any problems it would cause would be on the political side, not the legal one.
FINSUM: To be honest, we are perplexed by the firestorm over this. Trump did not have Mueller fired. Simply looking into it, even if true, doesn’t seem to constitute anything.
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(Washington)
While all the focus is on a possible trade war between NAFTA countries, and possibly, with China, there is another area where President Trump is trying to counter the rising power of Beijing. That area is in technological development. New reports out of the White House indicate that the president and his team consider the development of a 5G mobile data network of critical importance to combating China’s investments in the same area. The White House considers its development so crucial that it likened the need to the US’ effort to build the interstate highway system in the mid-20th century.
FINSUM: The scope of why the administration feels this way is not immediately clear, but what is clear is that America’s telecom industry is poorly suited to developing 5G because of its oligopolistic structure and lack of domestic manufacturers.
(Washington)
Those close to the investigation report that the Mueller special counsel, or “the probe”, is pushing hard and is close to wrapping up the obstruction of justice element of their investigation. Now, there are reports that Donald Trump will meet and speak to Robert Mueller under oath. Additionally, the Senate Judiciary Committee has requested to speak with Jared Kushner, who Bloomberg reports is spooked and won’t agree to be interviewed. The Senate is now planning to release transcripts of other conversations held during its investigations, conversations which apparently made many potential interviewees fearful of speaking.
FINSUM: Whether you think the investigation is a witch hunt or a warranted inquiry, it appears that the whole situation is building towards a climax.
(Washington)
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is reportedly pushing forward its investigation and is close to wrapping up the obstruction of justice aspect of its inquiry. Mueller is interviewing people closer to the president’s inner circle, but it is unclear if he will bring any charges. Trump has responded to the most recent interviews by offering to go under oath in an interview with Mueller, which is now scheduled to happen in the next few weeks.
FINSUM: It looks like Trump is going to set the record straight, under oath, with Mueller. Stay tuned.