Last night it became clear that Bernie Sanders has a very legitimate chance of being the Democratic Nominee. And whoever gets the democratic nomination will likely be the favorite in the run for the Presidency against the fractured republican party. He basically tied Hillary Clinton in the first primary and they will split the delegates from Iowa about Evenly. For the democrats the delegates are split proportionally in all States while for the Republicans the delegates in some States will be awarded on a winner-take-all basis.
Bernie Sanders then delivered a rousing anti-Wall Street speech. He believes that things need to be done to address the wealth disparity and to improve opportunities for ordinary workers. As I listened to his speech I figured the markets would be down at the open today. And they were. Despite his policies being less than business friendly I could not really disagree with much of what he said. Surely, the United States should have universal publicly paid health care or at least something more accessible than they have today. And surely there are opportunities to block tax loopholes for certain large corporations and extremely wealthy people.
In any case, it appears that we could see Bernie Sanders as President and that it would be perceived as negative for business.
I notice one of the harder hit stocks this morning is AutoCanada down about 6%. I am not aware of any particular reason for that.