The Financial Times had endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, proclaiming that the Democratic nominee “is manifestly more competent than (Donald) Trump with his braggadocio, divisiveness and meanness.”
“Despite her faults, Mrs. Clinton is eminently qualified to be the first woman elected to the White House,” the newspaper stated.
“Rarely in a U.S. presidential election has the choice been so stark and the stakes so high.”
The newspaper warned that “international order of the past 70 years is fraying, maybe even breaking down,” citing the recent Brexit vote, continued unrest in the Middle East and other global hotspots such as Syria. Russia has also emerged once again as an international worry.
“This is a moment for the renewal of American leadership. One candidate has the credentials. Mrs. Clinton has served as first lady, senator for New York and U.S. secretary of state. Mr. Trump deals in denigration, not diplomacy. Mr. Trump casts himself in the role of a Western strongman to stand alongside the likes of Mr. Putin,” the FT proclaimed.
“Mr. Trump has demonstrated contempt towards American democracy itself. He has persistently raised the prospect of a rigged election and declined, even when pressed, to guarantee he would accept the result. He has threatened to jail Mrs. Clinton. Such arrogance is unprecedented and it points to a fatal flaw in his character,” the FT said.
“The first role of the president is to be commander-in-chief, in charge of the world’s largest active nuclear arsenal. Mr. Trump has a thin skin and a questionable temperament. For all his many years as a reality TV host, he is simply not ready for prime time.”
However, the newspaper also said that Mrs. Clinton also is far from being the perfect candidate. “To many American voters, Mrs. Clinton’s decades of public service mean little. She epitomizes a remote, self-serving establishment.”
The FT said the “uncomfortable truth is that both Mr. (Bernie) Sanders and Mr. Trump have touched a nerve among voters, tapping into a cynicism about politics which has been growing steadily in the U.S., fueled in part by the legacy of the 2008 global financial crisis.”
Meanwhile, one of the most respected investment gurus of our generation has said a Trump presidency wouldn’t be the blow to U.S. business that some fear, Bloomberg reported.
“If either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton becomes president, I think Berkshire will continue to do fine,” said Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
The outcome of November’s presidential election is unlikely to change the fact that the U.S. is a “remarkably attractive place in which to conduct a business,” said Buffett, who has endorsed Democrat Clinton. U.S. companies have enjoyed “terrific” returns on equity despite a sustained period of ultra-low interest rates, he added.
Buffett, who has criticized Trump in the past and scorned politicians’ pessimism about the country, looked past the current voter angst for a longer view of U.S. economic prospects.
“Twenty years from now, there’ll be far more output per capita in the United States in real terms than there is now. In 50 years, it’ll be far more,” Buffett said. “No presidential candidate or president is going to end that. They can shape it in ways that are good or bad, but they can’t end it.”
Newsmax Finance Insider Patrick Watson agrees. "Economically, whether the next president is Trump or Clinton will matter much less than most of us think. The White House can’t override economic reality no matter who sits in the Oval Office. At best, presidents can slow down or speed up trends that are already in motion."
The tumultuous presidential race has appeared to tighten in the past week after news that the FBI was investigating more emails as part of a probe into Clinton's use of a private email system.
As a result, Wall Street has been on edge and stocks have been headed lower.
"There is concern over Trump being unexpected, because the market has really priced in a Clinton win and it hasn’t priced in a Trump win at all," Ken Polcari, director of the NYSE floor division at O’Neil Securities in New York, told Reuters.
In addition, the Federal Reserve is holding its two-day policy meeting, with its statement due on Wednesday. While traders do not expect the central bank to raise interest rates just a week ahead of the presidential election, they are looking for signs confirming that the Fed is set to hike rates in December.
"It’s really hitting the dividend-yielding names harder than anything else...," said Stephen Massocca, chief investment officer at Wedbush Equity Management LLC in San Francisco. "I don’t know if there is a new 'taper tantrum' sort of building here on concerns the Fed will act in December and the whole low interest rate environment is about to change."
(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).
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