{"text":[[{"start":11,"text":"Wall Street is betting that Democrats’ resounding midterm victory will hand moderates more sway in Washington, curbing the unpredictability that has rattled markets during Donald Trump’s second presidency."}],[{"start":22.947,"text":"US stocks jumped in the wake of Tuesday’s vote, with the S&P 500 adding 1.6 per cent, as traders wagered that the stark result would ease political uncertainty that has hung over markets since Trump came to power in 2025."}],[{"start":37.46,"text":"“This isn’t so much of a blue wave as it is a moderate wave,” said Jim Caron, chief investment officer of portfolio solutions at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, speaking after the Democrats took control of Congress, with the party notching up victories in battleground races up and down the US."}],[{"start":54.12,"text":"“The far-right voices and the far-left voices get quashed as a result of this,” he added. “There’s still going to be politics and debate, but it’s going to have to be moderate, centre-left Democrats looking to work with moderate, centre-right Republicans,” and “that could mean that you get more negotiated regulation.”"}],[{"start":72.22,"text":"Markets have been repeatedly hit by Trump’s policies from his conflict in Iran to attacks on the Federal Reserve and global trade wars. The policy swings have sparked bouts of volatility in markets and raised concerns about the political risks of the country’s debt and currency for foreign investors."}],[{"start":88.56,"text":"The scale of the Democrats’ victory on Tuesday will bring to Washington a diverse set of voices, with progressives like Abdul El-Sayed, who won a Michigan Senate seat, being balanced by centrists like North Carolina’s Roy Cooper."}],[{"start":101.44,"text":"At the same time, the Republicans’ loss was viewed as a rebuke of some of Trump’s most controversial policies, including tariffs that have hit farmers and ranchers across America’s agricultural heartland."}],[{"start":112.52,"text":"“The market is saying we actually put value on a country’s capacity to check itself, to course-correct, to pull back from what are perceived as extreme policy outcomes,” said Daleep Singh, chief global economist at PGIM. “It seems like voters chose moderation and markets appreciate that choice.”"}],[{"start":129.32,"text":"Investors added that limits on the Democratic Party’s power — with Trump maintaining wide-ranging executive authority and brandishing what he referred to as the “power of the veto” — were also seen as a boon for markets."}],[{"start":141.8,"text":"In the wake of the Republicans’ crushing midterms defeat, Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday afternoon that he would “get along probably with the Democrats unless they want to be destructive”."}],[{"start":153.16,"text":"Bob Michele, chief investment officer and head of the global fixed income, currency and commodities group at JPMorgan Asset Management, said the president’s “willingness to work with a new Congress is good”."}],[{"start":165.32,"text":"Michele added that markets had also taken solace in Trump’s comments in an interview Tuesday evening with the FT that he had no immediate plans to strike Iran, something that helped push down oil prices on Wednesday."}],[{"start":177.42,"text":"Joerg Ambrosius, president of investment services at State Street, added that “we believe policy uncertainty stays high”, stemming now from the executive branch rather than from new legislation."}],[{"start":188.52,"text":"Still, he said “the likelihood of some extreme curveballs is going down”."}],[{"start":193.24,"text":"The Democratic sweep also helped soothe investor concerns about Trump’s assaults on the Fed, said Michael Feroli, chief US economist at JPMorgan."}],[{"start":202.02,"text":"“The past two years have brought novel risks to the Fed’s independence, underscored by the first-ever attempted removal of a sitting Fed governor by the White House. The change in control in the Senate should mitigate those risks, as the Senate must approve any nominee the administration puts up for the Federal Reserve Board,” he said."}],[{"start":219.84,"text":"Glenn Hubbard, a former economic adviser to George W Bush, said, while the sweep would give the US central bank “a little more breathing room” on setting interest rates free from political pressure, it would complicate attempts by Michelle Bowman, vice-chair for supervision, to ease banking rules."}],[{"start":235.22,"text":"“The new leadership of the banking committee is going to be very different than the previous leadership,” Hubbard, now dean emeritus of Columbia Business School, said. “So it’s going to be a mixed bag for the Fed — though probably a plus on monetary policy.”"}],[{"start":248.24,"text":"Still, while investors and economists underscored the potential benefits of gridlock between a Democratic Congress and a Republican president — setting the stage for restrained spending — they also warned that this could cascade into major discord over government borrowing, with sweeping repercussions for US sovereign debt and the dollar."}],[{"start":266.2,"text":"“I thought investors would start to look ahead to the second-order consequences of gridlock,” said PGIM’s Singh, “which is that we could have the mother of all debt-ceiling showdowns next year.”"}],[{"start":281.64,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793881102_8916.mp3"}