What If Maxine Waters Takes the Gavel and Wall Street Loves It?

(Bloomberg) -- For months, bank stock watchers have warned Representative Maxine Waters might call for tougher regulations and hold harsh hearings, target penalty-box bank Wells Fargo & Co. and security-breaching Equifax Inc., and go after President Donald Trump's lenders, if she were to take control of the House Financial Services Committee.

On Wednesday, signs began emerging that Wall Street might be warming up to Waters who, as the ranking member on the committee in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, is the likely committee chair if the Democrats take over the House in next week's midterm elections. Fox Business Network's Charles Gasparino sent out a soothing tweet: “People close to Waters say she will have a constructive relationship w banks.” Raymond James analyst Ed Mills wrote that Waters's potential chairmanship poses “more headline risk than actual negative impact,” even given Waters's “national profile” and her reputation as a liberal Democrat.

And, for the first time in a decade, the securities and investment industries are spending more on Democrats than Republicans ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

Share of Wells Fargo, down 12 percent so far this year, show investors aren't too worried at the moment. The stock gained 1 percent on Wednesday, while Equifax rallied 2.4 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Felice Maranz in New York at fmaranz@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Steven Fromm, Joanna Ossinger

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