Stocks Pleased With Obama's Econ Advisers

By Lawrence Kudlow
IBDeditorials.com

When President-elect Obama had a chance to squash the tax-hike threat once and for all at his Monday news conference, he took a pass and let the question linger for another day. But his new economic cabinet appointments strongly suggest there will be no tax hikes next year.

Stocks, for one, like what they're seeing from Obama's cabinet selections. On Friday, Obama announced Tim Geithner will be his Treasury man, and on Monday he made Larry Summers his White House economics tsar and named Christine Romer to the top spot in the Council of Economic Advisers. Stocks rallied 900 points across this stretch.

That's not the end of the stock story. Markets also like the new super-TARP government plan to bail out Citigroup, which effectively guarantees the banking system with a massive insurancelike policy. But markets may also sense a little pro-growth good news in the Obama policy mix.

When asked about tax hikes on Monday, Obama said the debate is......