Wall Street thinks Obama’s likely Treasury Secretary pick doesn’t know jack about the market.
FORTUNE — Jack Lew, the frontrunner to be named Treasury Secretary in Obama’s second term, isn’t Wall Street’s first choice for the key economic post. He’s not even its second.
“I’ve talked to a bunch of investors and it’s seen as a net negative going from [Tim] Geithner to Lew,” says Chris Krueger, senior political analyst at Guggenheim Partners. “Who does Wall Street want? Not Jack Lew.”
Lew, 57, spent three years on Wall Street working at Citigroup (C) as the chief operating officer of its alternative asset investment management unit. One of the funds Lew’s group invested in was run by John Paulson, who at the time was betting heavily against the housing markets and banks. But that’s not the part of Lew’s resume that anyone seems to remember. And it’s certainly not the important part.