Lew "knows his way around Washington" and also has "strong backing" from Obama, Evercore Partners Inc. CEO Ralph Schlosstein, an Obama supporter, told Bloomberg Television's Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle yesterday. Bowles, while also knowledgeable about Washington, "doesn't bring the same closeness to the president," he said.
'Massive Negotiation'
Harry Wilson, founder and CEO of corporate-restructuring firm Maeva Group LLC and a former adviser to Obama's Auto Task Force, attributed a decline in stock markets after the election to concern that Obama won't be able to negotiate successfully with House Republicans to achieve agreement on debt reduction.
"This president's been the primary obstacle to it and some of his political staff," Wilson, a Romney supporter, told Schatzker and Ruhle yesterday. "This is a massive negotiation, and it's being led by a guy who hasn't negotiated a deal really in his life."
'The Taxman'
The solution worked out by the Obama administration will probably include more tax increases and fewer spending cuts than investors thought before the election, which is weighing on the market, Pacific Investment Management Co.'s Bill Gross told Bloomberg Television's Trish Regan.
"We played the old Beatles song 'The Taxman,' on our trading floor this morning," said Gross, who manages the $281 billion Total Return Fund.
Winning the confidence of investors, bankers and foreign governments will depend in large part on who Obama chooses to lead Treasury.
"We hope they do in fact make good progress in terms of the quality of the individual that goes into this role," Kevin Kabat, CEO of Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp, said in a phone interview. "It will be really the determining legacy of the next four years."