Wall Street worried about GOP in midterms and its partly due to Home Depot, McDonalds

The smart money on Wall Street is more worried about the GOP’s midterm prospects than the average investor — and you can partly thank Home Depot and McDonald’s, On The Money has learned.The conventional wisdom — whether you’re consulting Kalshi and Polymarket, the talking heads on financial TV or the day traders on Reddit — is that the Democrats will win the House while the Senate is still largely a toss-up; despite decent polling numbers for Dems running far left loons in Texas and Michigan will likely allow the GOP to keep the upper chamber.But the high-paid traders on Wall Street — who do actual homework before placing their massive bets — see more risk.In particular, they have noticed how consumer-focused stocks are getting crushed, signaling weaker economic trends in middle America — and warning signs about President Trump’s working-class base.True, the Dems are embracing socialism with oddball candidates at the fringes.

DSA types led by our very own Mayor Zohran Mamdani have gained traction in NYC, but it’s a harder sell in the aforementioned Texas and Michigan where Dems elected screwballs like and Abdul El-Sayed.Moreover, the major indices — Nasdaq, Dow and S&P — are all at record levels.Employment and GDP portray a strong economy.

People are working and wages seem to be up.Inflation, even with the Iran conflict juicing oil and gas prices, is relatively in check.That’s what the optimists argue, at least.

But delve deeper into the data and the trend isn’t necessarily the GOP’s friend. First, top-line numbers often mask the real economy.Joe Biden gave us 9% inflation at one point.

Under President Trump it’s between 3.2% and 3.4%.But those numbers only measure the rate of change.

The problem is that prices continue to go up, testing new and ever more painful heights. Trump’s tariff agenda hasn’t helped, and it’s one reason inflation remains above the Fed’s long-held 2% target.Chairman Kevin Warsh can’t cut...