Tag: presidential

Vice presidential debate: Harris hits Trump over tax returns, asks president who he owes money to

Democcratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris went after President Trump for not paying enough money in taxes, and questioned who he might owe money to.

“We now know because of great investigative journalism that Donald Trump paid $750 in taxes,” Harris said during Wednesday night’s vice presidential debate. “When I first heard about it, I literally said, ‘You mean $750,000?’ Nope $750.”

Harris was referring to a recent report by The New York Times, who obtained information on the president’s 2016 and 2017 taxes, both of which show he paid a total of $750 in federal taxes each year.

The Times also reported that he paid no federal income taxes for ten of the 15 years prior to winning the presidency in 2016, largely due to the fact that he reported financial loses greater than his income.

KAMALA HARRIS VOWS BIDEN WILL REPEAL TRUMP TAX CUTS ‘ON DAY ONE’

“We now know Donald Trump owes, and is in debt for $400 million, and just so that everyone is clear, when we say in debt – it means you owe money to somebody,” Harris said Wednesday in answer to a question about presidential transparency.

Harris added: “And it’d be really good to know who the president of the United States, the commander-in-chief owes money to, because the American people have a right to know what is influencing the president’s decisions and is he making those decisions on the best interests of the American people….or self-interest?”

Trump has disregarded the report as “fake news” and claimed that his tax returns would be available as soon as the IRS had completed their audit.

Pence, however, highlighted the president’s dismissal of the report and said, “the American people have a president who’s a businessman, a job creator, he’s paid tens of millions of dollars

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Redfin Survey: 22% of Homebuyers and Sellers Say the Presidential Election Is Impacting Their Plans

Analysis Finds Past Presidential Elections Had Little Impact on Home Sales

Redfin Forecasts $6.2M Homes Sales in 2020, the Most Since 2006

SEATTLE, Oct. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — (NASDAQ: RDFN) — Twenty-two percent of homebuyers and sellers said the upcoming presidential election is impacting their plans to buy or sell a home, according to an August survey from Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. That’s down from 32% in November 2019, per a similar Redfin survey. The drop from last year is likely due to the pandemic, which seems to be outweighing the election as a factor for homebuyers and sellers.


Redfin Logo (PRNewsfoto/Redfin)

Thirteen percent of respondents said the election is making them more hesitant to buy or sell a home, down from 20% in November 2019. Nine percent of respondents said the election is making them less hesitant to buy or sell a home, down from 12% in November. Election concerns are unlikely to have a major impact on the housing market, partly because a portion of those people will move forward with their plans to buy and/or sell once the election has passed. The survey included more than 1,400 U.S. residents who plan to buy or sell a home in the next 12 months.

Alisha Pruitt, a Redfin agent in Silicon Valley, said she doesn’t expect this year’s upcoming presidential election to impact real estate activity.

“Almost all the buyers I work with ask how the election could impact their home purchase,” Pruitt said. “I don’t have a crystal ball, but presidential elections have never seemed to affect the housing market much in the six election cycles I’ve been a real estate agent. The pandemic is having a much bigger impact, with low mortgage rates motivating buyers who want more space to work from

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Presidential Covid-19 Diagnosis Takes Over As Day’s Big Story, Hurting Stocks

Key Takeaways:

  • Market dives ahead of open after president tests positive for coronavirus
  • Payroll growth of 661,000 jobs well short of expectations
  • More data on way after payrolls including sentiment, factory orders

On payrolls report day, we always start this column with a rundown, as it’s one data point that typically sets the tone for the session—if not the coming month.

Not this time. With the bombshell news that the president and first lady tested positive for Covid-19, markets start today on the back foot, with major indices falling sharply in overnight trading. The news adds a new twist to what was already shaping up as a strange and highly uncertain election season, and also raises fears of how far the virus might have spread to people the president has spent time with, including his opponent.

That’s the scenario that might really shake up Wall Street, but there’s no sense putting the cart before the horse. Investors should consider caution at times like these, when volatility rises sharply and uncertainty rules the day. There’s no need to be a hero and be first in or out of a big move, and there’s no need to trade in large increments. One thing this news does do is reinforce how Covid-19 remains the number one story affecting the markets, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon even with the election looming.

Before the opening bell, sectors taking the biggest hit included airlines and other travel and “reopening” types of stocks as shutdown fears rose in the wake of the presidential news. Tech also took a step back. However, payrolls data could have an additional impact on trading.

Payrolls Data Mostly Fail to Impress

The pre-opening slump from today’s biggest news story didn’t appear likely to get much

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Stocks rise with first presidential debate, stimulus in focus

Stocks rose Wednesday as investors weighed a raucous first presidential debate and continued to eye developments among congressional lawmakers for further fiscal stimulus. During a conference presented by CNBC on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that lawmakers are looking to give passing a stimulus bill in the near-term a “serious try.”

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Market participants also eyed a key labor market report, which showed more private payrolls added back in September than expected, and considered a couple highly anticipated direct listings for tech companies Asana and Palantir.

Wednesday’s rise did little to unwind entirely the wave of selling that overtook markets for much of September. As of intraday Tuesday, the S&P 500 was still on track to post an about 3.3% monthly decline – its worst since March.

Only the materials sector clung to gains in the blue-chip index for September to date through Tuesday. The energy, communication services and information technology sectors were the laggards, as a month-long correction in previously high-flying tech names took out these sectors’ leadership positions. The utilities and industrials sectors were on track to post losses for the month as well, but still outperformed the broader market.

And with five weeks to go until Election Day, market pundits have warned of a potential for additional volatility conjured up by political uncertainty, compounded with ongoing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic and strain still facing the US economy.

“I think markets are really nervous into those 36 days [before the election] and one of the things we have to think about is, when does nervousness price in the worst is yet to come? When do you think the worst is priced in? At least from June to August highs, if you give up two-thirds of those gains … that would be 3,224 [on the S&P

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Dow Futures Extend Decline After Chaotic Presidential Debate

The Wednesday Market Minute

  • Global stocks slide following a chaotic Presidential debate during which President Donald Trump once again refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power.
  • President Trump, and former Vice President Joe Biden traded insults and interruptions in an unedifying 90 minute spectacle that likely changed the minds of very few voters.
  • Germany is using targeted restrictions to tame a resurgent coronavirus, and hopes to avoid a nation-wide lockdown, as the pandemic continues to spread across Europe.
  • Oil prices drift lower as the dollar rallies in safe-haven trading ahead of EIA data on domestic inventory at 10:30 am Eastern time.
  • U.S. equity futures suggest a modestly firmer open on Wall Street, but still the first monthly loss since March, after ADP jobs data  and a final Q2 GDP reading.

U.S. equity futures turned higher Wednesday, while the dollar pushed higher and safe-haven assets rallied, as markets reacted to a bitter and chaotic Presidential debate that once again raised the prospect of a contested election in November.

Payroll processing firm ADP’s September report said private sector employers added nearly three quarters of a million new jobs in September, setting up a stronger-than-expected reading of non-farm payrolls later this week.

Markets also bounced higher following reports of leaked data showing the September Chicago PMI reading pegged at 62.4, more than 10 points ahead of the Street consensus forecast.

President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden traded insults, jabs, interruptions and exasperation in an unedifying televised clash that is unlikely to change the minds of the few voters that managed to sit through the 90 minute spectacle.

While neither candidate was able to land more than a glancing blow on his opponent, and few if any policy ambitions were revealed, President Trump did once again raise the prospect

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