European citizens and political leaders
welcomed President Barack Obama’s re-election Wednesday. European money
was less enthusiastic.
Many
business executives and investors in Europe, like their counterparts in
the United States, would have welcomed a president who was one of their
own. They had more faith in Mitt Romney
to steer the U.S. economy, by
far the biggest market for European exports.
“The
business community was clearly in favor of Romney, that’s no secret,”
said Fred B. Irwin, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in
Germany. “The business community felt that the Obama administration
ignored them.”
European
stock markets initially showed little reaction to Mr. Obama’s
re-election Wednesday morning, then followed U.S. stocks down later in
the day. The implication was that investors were unsure whether a second
term for the president would bring growth that European companies, as
well as U.S. firms with operations on the Continent, urgently need to
help offset the dismal economy in the euro zone.
Newly pessimistic forecasts on the region’s economy from the European Commission on Wednesday added to the gloom.
Many
Europeans, who never quite seemed to understand that Mr. Obama could
lose his bid for re-election, on Wednesday looked for more explicit
American support for economic growth and took heart in the victory of a
center-left president who favors activist government and a social safety
net for all citizens.
Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49737980
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