Dinakar Singh had financial news on mute inside his Midtown Manhattan home office when his son called out to him: \u201cDad, are you watching this?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Axon Capital founder, a former top trader at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., switched the television channel and turned up the volume. His mouth fell open.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came here as an immigrant at the age of 10,\u201d he said later. \u201cThe U.S. was the only true great country on Earth, and the only place where one could come with nothing, and dream every dream.\u201d Singh, who can see Trump Tower from the office in his apartment, wondered if what he was seeing could possibly represent that same country.<\/p>\n
Across Wall Street, executives watched in horror from home desks and mostly empty offices as a mob of President Donald Trump\u2019s supporters ransacked the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. Then something changed. The market, inured to years of political chaos, mostly shrugged off one of the most brazen attacks ever on American democracy. By Thursday, much of the financial world was practically back to business as usual.<\/p>\n
Former Obama White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, now at Wells Fargo & Co., said the scene at the Capitol was terrifying — but more of an \u201cindividual sort of horror\u201d than the type of crisis that prompts companies to take emergency action. \u201cThere was nothing about the event that caused us to pull the operating committee together to respond,\u201d said Daley, the public affairs vice chairman for the banking industry\u2019s largest employer. \u201cThe markets weren\u2019t reacting at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stocks eventually rallied toward another record, as investors turned their attention from images of a Confederate flag marched through the Capitol and handguns drawn inside the House to the prospect of more stimulus under President-elect Joe Biden. Banks rose as Goldman Sachs said the industry has \u201cmoved back into vogue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing that was interesting about yesterday\u2019s market was its disinterest,\u201d said James Pillow, a portfolio manager at Moors & Cabot.<\/p>\n
Even if the events didn\u2019t leave a lasting mark on markets, it seized enough attention to overshadow the minutes from the Federal Reserve\u2019s last rate-setting meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so distracted that I forgot they were even released until 20 minutes later,\u201d said John Doyle at Tempus Inc. \u201cPerhaps I should feel<\/span> lucky that market moves were muted.\u201d<\/p>\n Bob Diamond was signing in for blood work for his annual exam at Minnesota\u2019s Mayo Clinic when he got a text about the riots. The former Barclays Plc boss, who now runs Atlas Merchant Capital, felt<\/span> \u201cshaken that it could have come to what it came to.\u201d He went to bed around 9 p.m. and woke up feeling \u201ctremendous confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n Not all financial executives were feeling certain on Thursday.<\/p>\n Several people of color in the industry said the market\u2019s sanguine reaction was another reflection of Wall Streeters\u2019 financial security and lack of diversity. As disturbing as the events in Washington were, it caused relatively few executives to consider their own personal safety or place in society.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was my worst day as an American and an even worse day as a Black American,\u201d said Jacob Walthour Jr., who runs Blueprint Capital Advisors<\/span>. \u201cIf these protesters had been Black, this would be considered a coup or rebellion, and the show of force would have been unlike anything we have ever seen in this nation\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n Some found themselves offering consolation. George Walker, who runs Neuberger Berman Group LLC and is former President George W. Bush\u2019s second cousin, got a call from an industrialist in Germany who wanted to know why the images from Washington were so ugly. Then he heard from his mother in Montana, who was crying.<\/p>\n Erika Karp, founder of Cornerstone Capital Group, said she hoped the U.S. will learn from what happened: \u201cThe optimism would have to come from a place that says this was a lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n\u2018Worst Day\u2019<\/h3>\n