For Whom the Bell Tolls
Much ink has been spilled lately over whether government officials deserve blame because their policies have driven shareholders’ values down, or praise because they’re acting to avert a larger financial crisis.
And while most members of Congress and administration officials have never seen such turbulent times on Wall Street, that’s not to say they’re strangers to the New York Stock Exchange.
Since early 2006, we identified 17 prominent pols and bureaucrats who rang the opening bell on the floor of the NYSE. Overall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained an average of 7.5 points on those days.
But let’s go deeper and see how the market did on each of their big days. The biggest bump for a Washingtonian came recently, on Sept. 19 of this year, when FDIC chief Sheila Bair rang the bell. The Dow gained 360 points that day. The worst? That came only two months earlier, on July 9, when the market lost 266 points after Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao rang the bell.
If he’s superstitious, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson may want to stay away, too. The Dow dropped 231 points when he rang the bell on Jan. 8 of this year. He could send Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., whose bell ringing ushered in a 132-point gain on Feb. 12 of this year.
Other gains and losses were more modest. Among the winners: FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher (70), House Minority Leader John Boehner (39), Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. (52), Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. (7), Education Secretary Margaret Spellings (60), Rep. Paul Gillmor, R-Ohio (64) and Rep. Vito Fossella (6).
And the losers: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (-63), former Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., D-Tenn. (-82), FCC Chairman Kevin Martin (-40), former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (-64) and former Veterans’ Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson (-4).
President Bush didn’t ring the bell on January 31, 2007, but he did visit the floor. The market gained 102 points that day. His brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, visited on Oct. 9, 2006. That was worth eight points.
