Lockheed-to-Tenet Drop Shows Election Spending Peril

[Joanne98]

Source: Bloomberg

Oct. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Companies that count on state and federal spending are trailing the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index for the first time in a year, a sign they’ll lose sales should Democrats give up control of Congress.

Lockheed Martin Corp., which gets almost all its revenue from defense projects, has fallen 5.9 percent since July as the S&P 500 rallied 15 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Tenet Healthcare Corp. depends on the U.S. for about 33 percent of sales and is down 18 percent this year. A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. index of contractors getting at least 20 percent from governments started lagging behind the S&P 500 last quarter after beating it since September 2009.

Budget cuts spurred by Republican victories in the House or Senate may lead to more declines in the shares, which until August had matched the S&P 500’s gain since the start of the bull market, according to BlackRock Inc., Fifth Third Asset Management Inc. and Harris Private Bank. The party will hold a 20-seat majority in the House of Representatives after the Nov. 2 vote, according to FiveThirtyEight, a New York Times blog that forecasts elections by analyzing polls.

“There’s going to be a bridle put on U.S. government spending,” said Keith Wirtz, who oversees $18 billion as chief investment officer at Fifth Third in Cincinnati. “The market’s looking through its binoculars and suggesting less government spending in 2011 and 2012 will hurt the fundamentals of these companies.”



Read more: http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a1.n_0TMvUuU&pos=10

---

So voters who work for companies who get government contacts can expect LAYOFFS if the Republicans take the house.

[pscot]

1. I don't believe it

The Republicant bullies are far more likely to beat up on pregnant women, poor people and kids than big, tough, macho defense contractors.

[Tempest]

2. Their anti-deficit rhetoric has painted them into a corner

They can't decrease the deficit without cutting defense spending and they know it.

Not that they have any intention of cutting the deficit.