Shares of the nation's biggest banks and financial firms fell in early market trading on Wednesday, as the prospects of a second term for President Obama mean that tougher regulations for Wall Street are here to stay.
For a refresher on what the financial services industry had been hoping for in a Romney administration, check out DealBook's primer from Tuesday.
Here's how the stocks of several major banks were trading right after the opening bell:
Shares in mergers advisory specialists were down as well, perhaps because of concerns that a second Obama administration means that tougher antitrust scrutiny will remain in place, dampening an appetite for deals. (But several bankers and lawyers played down that possibility, arguing that companies needed to find new ways to grow, including through M.&A.)
And shares in publicly traded private equity shops were down as well. Private equity had been a highly visible target during the campaign, owing to Mitt Romney‘s roots in the industry, and many leveraged buyout executives turned out in droves to support the Republican ticket. Such firms could be in line for reduced profitability if the Obama administration moves to raise corporate tax rates on investment activity. That includes carried interest, one of their traditionally biggest sources of income.
