The Finance 202: Pete Buttigieg lures even closer look from Wall Street donors following strong Iowa caucuses performance

“There are a lot of traditional Democratic bundlers on the sidelines waiting for the smoke to clear,” one of the candidate’s New York bundlers tells me. “Pete’s [potential] win in Iowa starts to clear the smoke. The former vice president came in fourth,” this source said, referring to Joe Biden. 

Here's where things stand in Iowa: 

Indeed, of the remaining candidates in the race, Buttigieg and Biden have been in a head-to-head fight for a fundraising edge from the financial services industry, a critical ATM for establishment Democrats. Buttigieg was leading Biden through September by this metric. 

But as Buttigieg’s fortunes appeared to fade, Biden overtook him in the last quarter, and now leads among financial services interests, according to new figures from the Center for Responsive Politics. Here’s how the two finished the year in the betting market PredictIt:

By the end of the year, Biden had raised $1.75 million from securities and investment firms. Buttigieg has gathered $1.36 million from the same sources.

“I think the Wall Street crowd thought he was fading and is surprised he [may have] won Iowa,” one Wall Street lobbyist tells me. “If he finishes strong in [New Hampshire], he will get a second look, but folks are skeptical he can expand his coalition beyond white voters… and they are biased towards thinking Mayor Mike [Bloomberg] is going to become their savior.”

A Buttigieg spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The former mayor is no stranger to the high-dollar donor circuit, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. He had scheduled a New York fundraiser with Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) and actor Michael J. Fox for last night, and a Manhattan breakfast for this morning, according to activists protesting his Wall Street donations.

Buttigieg's willingness to accept money from big donors has been a double-edged sword for him.

The infusion of campaign cash from coastal money centers funded ads that helped fuel his rise in Iowa. Yet it has also made for a ready attack line from his more liberal rivals, who tout their reliance on small-dollar donations and blast Buttigieg’s dependence on deep-pocketed donors as a sign he has sold out to corporate interests. The practice has also drawn the wrath of liberal groups, who have hunted down and staked out his New York events to protest, though they failed to find him Wednesday night: 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) attacked Buttigieg at a December debate for holding a fundraiser that took place “in a wine cave full of crystals and served $900-a-bottle wine. Think about who comes to that.” Buttigieg responded that he is the poorest candidate in the field. “I am literally the only person on this stage who is not a millionaire or a billionaire,” he said.

That month, his campaign released a list of his bundlers who have gathered at least $25,000 for his bid. The roster featured a number of bold-faced Wall Street names, including hedge fund manager Orin Kramer, Blackstone Group executive vice chairman Hamilton James, and hedge fund manager Robert Lynch.

The bundler I talked to pointed to a “tremendous pent-up supply of donor funds available for a leading Democratic candidate who can coalesce the party… In this community, the more momentum Bernie and Elizabeth get, the more bundlers will start to come off the sidelines. Every day, there's more information that gets traditional New York finance bundlers motivated to get behind someone who can win.”

In the immediate term, that should redound to the benefit of Buttigieg. But a stumble in the next few contests could dry up that donor pool as fast as it spouted, as the smart money waits to see if Bloomberg can tap his own bottomless wealth to carve a moderate path to the nomination.

MARKET MOVERS

— Stocks rally again, S&P 500 hits new high. CNBC's Fred Imbert: "Stocks rose for a third straight day on Wednesday, pushing the S&P 500 back to levels hit prior to the coronavirus scare. The broad index closed 1.1% higher at 3,334.69, led by strong gains in the energy, financials and health care sectors. That gain drove the S&P 500 to a record closing high. It also erased its losses stemming from fears over the coronavirus and came within a whisker of hitting an all-time intraday high.

"At one point, the S&P 500 was down as much as 3.1% because of worries around the fast-spreading virus. The index has also seen volatility spike amid the virus fears, posting five moves of at least 1% over the past two weeks. Prior to that, the S&P 500 had gone 74 sessions without a move of that magnitude."

— Coronavirus cases keep spiking in China. The Post: "Coronavirus infections in mainland China again rose sharply, with nearly 3,700 additional cases and 73 new deaths reported on Wednesday alone, authorities said Thursday morning. China’s total confirmed cases now top 28,000, more than 3,800 of them critical. The increase continues a trend of growing daily spikes in confirmed cases. China has reported more than 560 coronavirus deaths, and another person died in the Philippines... A Chinese disease expert says containing the virus and reducing the number of infections could take up to six weeks."

— Expectations set for healthy jobs report. Bloomberg News's Reade Pickert and Max Reyes: "The U.S. job market probably got off to a healthy start in 2020 but may also lose some of the luster President Donald Trump boasted about this week. January figures due Friday are projected to show U.S. employers added about 163,000 jobs -- less than last year’s 176,000 average but still enough to keep unemployment at a half-century low. Wage gains are forecast to rebound from a surprise slump in December."

— No future for futures? “The slow death of hedge funds is taking down a once-popular derivatives contract with it,” Bloomberg News's Katherine Greifeld and Cameron Crise report.

“That’s one of the theories for why aggregate positions in S&P 500 futures have fallen steadily as a percentage of the index’s market cap since the financial crisis. The decline mirrors a fall in e-mini S&P 500 contracts reported by leveraged accounts, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The category — leveraged money — is often used as shorthand for hedge funds and short-term traders.”

TRUMP TRACKER

TRADE FLY-AROUND:

— Beijing cuts tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. goods. AP's Joe McDonald: "China cut tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. imports including soybeans, pork and auto parts Thursday in a trade truce with Washington while Beijing struggles with a costly virus outbreak. The cuts follow last month’s signing of a 'Phase 1' agreement toward ending a long-running tariff war over Beijing’s technology ambitions and trade surplus. Both sides have made conciliatory gestures but the lingering dispute threatens to chill global economic growth... 

"There was no indication Beijing altered its own cuts in response to the rising cost of efforts to contain a virus outbreak that have depressed business activity by closing factories, restaurants and shops... The tax rate on some 916 items including soybeans, pork and fish was cut from 10% to 5%, effective Feb. 14, the ministry said. The rate for 801 items including auto parts will be cut from 5% to 2.5%."

— Trade deficit falls for the first time in six years: " The U.S. trade deficit fell for the first time in six years in 2019 as the White House’s trade war with China curbed the import bill, keeping the economy on a moderate growth path despite a slowdown in consumer spending and weak business investment,” Reuters's Lucia Mutikani reports.

“The report from the Commerce Department ... also showed the Trump administration’s 'America First' agenda decreased the flow of goods last year, with exports posting their first decline since 2016 ... With tensions in the 19-month U.S.-China trade war easing, last year’s narrowing in the deficit is unlikely to be repeated.”

TRUMP WATCH:

— White House adviser says Bezos backed out of meeting: “Amazon is offering only to have senior executives meet with [White House adviser Peter Navarro], not its chief executive, the White House adviser said. This has escalated a long-simmering tension between the Trump administration and the United States’ largest e-commerce company,” my colleagues Jeff Stein and Abha Bhattarai report.

The feud is related to Bezos reportedly agreeing to meet with Navarro over allegations that e-commerce giants such as Amazon have become marketplaces for counterfeiters. But Navarro's anger “does not seem to be universally shared within the West Wing. A few hours after the Navarro run-in, Bezos, who owns The Post, hosted Trump’s daughter Ivanka, her husband, Jared Kushner, and top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway for a party at his house in Washington.”

IMPEACHMENT MINUTE: A speed read on the latest from the congressional impeachment process.

"In historic vote, Trump acquitted of impeachment charges." By The Post's Seung Min Kim 

"Mitt Romney knew the storm was coming over his impeachment vote. How long it lasts will be up to Trump." By The Post's Josh Dawsey 

"Democrats at a crossroads after Trump’s acquittal, torn between investigations and sole focus on policy." By The Post's Rachael Bade and Paul Kane 

POCKET CHANGE

— Tesla craters: Tesla shares fell 17.18 percent “after a company executive said that cars initially scheduled for delivery in early February will be delayed due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus. The huge fall comes after two spectacular days for the stock earlier this week,” CNBC's Arjun Kharpal reports.

“Tesla has kept its Shanghai factory closed after the Lunar New Year following government guidelines due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus, which has now infected at least 24,000 in more than two dozen countries and killed about 490 in China.”

• Meanwhile, GM and Ford strain: “General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. provided tepid outlooks that give little optimism for the year ahead to investors who are increasingly betting on [Tesla] ... as the car company of the future,” the Wall Street Journal's Mike Colias reports. “Both Detroit giants are dealing with weakening demand and rising labor costs ... GM said earnings last year were dinged by a crippling 40-day strike that idled dozens of U.S. factories last fall, and said it didn’t expect operating profits to grow in 2020 due in part to anticipated slowdowns in the U.S. and Chinese car markets.”

— DOJ ramps up Google probe: “The Justice Department has reached out to more than a dozen companies in its antitrust probe of Google, including publishers, advertising technology firms and advertising agencies, as the company’s online ad tools become a major focus of the investigation, according to people familiar with the matter,” the WSJ's Keach Hagey and Rob Copeland report.

“In recent months, the department has been posing increasingly detailed questions — to Google’s rivals and executives inside the company itself — about how Google’s third-party advertising business interacts with publishers and advertisers, the people say. That digital business was built largely on the company’s 2008 acquisition of the ad-technology firm DoubleClick.”

• Texas AG says breaking up Google is on the table: “Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is leading a multistate investigation into Alphabet Inc’s Google unit, said ... he has not taken any possible punishment off the table, including breaking up the search and advertising giant,” Reuters's Diane Bartz reports.

— Lawmakers blame CEO for youth vaping: “Lawmakers chastised top executives of five vaping companies at a hearing ... blaming them for causing an epidemic of e-cigarette use among young people through targeted marketing,” the WSJ's Thomas M. Burton reports." The senior executives said they didn’t now market to young people, and some said they never have. But some congressmen rejected those claims.”

— Casper cuts IPO: “Casper Sleep Inc. priced its IPO at the low end of its already slashed range, the latest sign that the path to public ownership remains treacherous for unprofitable startups,” the WSJ's Corrie Driebusch and Allison Prang report.

“Casper pegged its share price at $12 ... just over a week after the mattress seller had said it expected its stock to price between $17 and $19 a share. On Wednesday morning, the company lowered its expected price range to $12 to $13, signaling it had struggled to find enough demand at higher levels. The pricing gives Casper a valuation of roughly $476 million, excluding an underwriters’ allotment — well below the $1.1 billion where it was valued privately. It is slated to begin trading [today].”

— Madoff seeks early release, cites terminal disease. The Post's Justin George: "The man convicted of the greatest Ponzi scheme in modern American history, guilty of bilking thousands of investors in 49 states and more than 120 countries, is asking a judge to release him from a life sentence so he can die outside prison walls. Bernie Madoff said he is in the end stages of kidney disease, must use a wheelchair and is in need of round-the-clock help. At 81, he is too old for a transplant, and he has been moved to palliative care within the Federal Medical Center prison in Butner, N.C. He is asking for compassionate release so he can die at home.

"In phone interviews with The Washington Post, Madoff expressed remorse for his massive fraud, in which he swindled investors out of billions, and said his dying wish is to salvage relationships with his grandchildren... 'I’m terminally ill,' Madoff said. 'There’s no cure for my type of disease. So, you know, I’ve served. I’ve served 11 years already, and, quite frankly, I’ve suffered through it.'" 

THE REGULATORS

— Warren, Brown press CFPB to scrap task force. American Banker's Kate Berry: "Sens. Elizabeth Warren... and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, have asked the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to suspend a seven-member task force charged with updating consumer credit laws, claiming the hiring process was 'not fair, credible, or transparent.'

In a letter sent to CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger Wednesday, the lawmakers argued that some task force members, including its chair Todd Zywicki, a law professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, cannot be trusted to protect consumers because they have represented payday lenders or Wall Street banks, or worked at law firms that do so... The letter takes aim at Zywicki, a longtime CFPB critic, claiming he has a conflict of interest because he defended bankrupt debt relief company Morgan Drexen in a dispute with the bureau that ended in a settlement in 2016."

DAYBOOK

Today:

• Uber, Kellogg, T-Mobile, Philip Morris International, Fiat Chrysler, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Skechers USA, Yum! Brands, Estee Lauder and the New York Times are among the notable companies reporting their earnings.

Friday:

• The Labor Department releases the January jobs numbers
• Honda Motor and AbbVie are among the notable companies reporting their earnings.

THE FUNNIES

BULL SESSION