Jeb Bush is leading the U.S. presidential campaign by at least one measure: financial support from Wall Street.

The former Florida governor who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination received more financial backing than any competitor - Democrat or Republican - from employees of the major Wall Street banks between July and the end of September, campaign filings released on Thursday show.

Employees from Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and UBS, gave Bush a combined $107,000. He also received the maximum-allowed $2,700 from billionaire hedge fund manager Leon Cooperman.

The sums are miniscule compared to Bush's total haul for the quarter of $13.4 million. But his popularity among financiers is starkly different from his standing in the multitude of national polls.

Bush, seen as a moderate in the crowded Republican field where 14 candidates are competing for the nomination, trails Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, three candidates who have never held elected office, in every major poll.

The second most popular candidate on Wall Street according to giving patterns is Democratic front-runner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She took in nearly $84,000 from employees of the same banks.

No other candidates came close to Clinton and Bush. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, another establishment Republican, raised more than $25,000, while Texas Senator Ted Cruz took in $17,000.

Seth Klarman, the Boston-based billionaire founder of the Baupost Group, gave Rubio $2,800 but his support wasn't exclusive. He almost gave twice as much to Fiorina.

Upstart candidates on both sides won very little support from Wall Street. Employees at the banks gave $4,843 to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton's closest rival and a self-described democratic socialist. Carson took in just over $8,000 from Wall Street.

 

 

 

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Billionaire Steve Wynn is not happy with the government of Macau.

The casino magnate let loose on a conference call Thursday after his company's Macau division reported a net revenue decline of nearly 40%.

"In my 45 years of experience, I've never seen anything like this before," Wynn said.

Macau, like Hong Kong, is a Special Administrative Region of China. It is also the only place in China where gambling is legal. Since 2002, its casino industry has grown into a $45 billion heavyweight, roughly seven times bigger than Las Vegas.

But now, VIP gamblers are fleeing Macau in droves because an intense anti-corruption campaign in Mainland China has made them wary of visiting casinos. The industry is also taking a hit from new government rules.

Wynn said he is particularly flummoxed by the local government's decision to limit the number of tables allowed at new casinos, including one that his company is building.

"The table cap is the single most counter-intuitive and irrational decision that was ever made," Wynn said. "Here we are spending billions of dollars ... and then arbitrarily somebody says, 'well you should only have this many tables.' No jurisdiction ever has imposed that kind of logic on us."

The vast majority of Macau's revenue currently comes directly from the casinos, and the territory is trying desperately to diversify its economy beyond gambling.

 

 

The obvious starting point is to boost its entertainment and leisure options, which lag far behind the glitz, glam and family fun offered in Vegas. The idea is to offer guests a more complete resort experience.

Wynn (WYNN) is happy to build more attractions, but he said that government officials should not seek to limit the industry's core business.

"We built tens of thousands of rooms and restaurants and attractions, but they say, 'you're not allowed to gamble, because you can't have the tables.' Well that's one of the reasons they come to Macau."

The frankness of Wynn's remarks were a notable departure from the jargon and corporate speak that typify earnings calls.

"I don't know that this has been the most satisfying quarterly phone call we've ever had, but at least it's the most candid and the most honest one that we could possibly give everybody that is interested in our company," Wynn concluded.

 

 

 

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The Islamic State is trying to hack American electrical power companies.

U.S. law enforcement officials revealed the hack attempts on Wednesday at a conference of American energy firms who were meeting about national security concerns.

"ISIL is beginning to perpetrate cyberattacks," Caitlin Durkovich, assistant secretary for infrastructure protection at the Department of Homeland Security, told company executives. The attacks by the Islamic State have been unsuccessful, Terrorists are not currently using the most sophisticated hacking tools to break into computer systems and turn off or blow up machines.

"Strong intent. Thankfully, low capability," said John Riggi, a section chief at the FBI's cyber division. "But the concern is that they'll buy that capability."

Indeed, hacking software is up for sale in black markets online. That's often how mafias acquire the cyberweapons they use to break into companies and steal giant databases of information they later sell to fraudsters.

The FBI now worries that the Islamic State or its supporters will buy malicious software that can sneak into computers and destroy electronics. An attack on power companies could disrupt the flow of energy to U.S. homes and businesses.

And it's not just Islamic extremists. There's an equal threat from domestic terrorists and hate groups, according to Mark Lemery. He's the "critical infrastructure protection coordinator" who helps coordinate defenses against attacks in Utah. But again, the worries are tempered.

"They'd love to do damage, but they just don't have the capability," Lemery said. "Terrorists have not gotten to the point where they're causing physical damage."

Officials made clear that the greater concern is attacks from other countries. Riggi said malware found last year on industrial control systems at energy companies -- including pumps and engines -- were traced to the Russian government.

The chance of a hack taking out the entire U.S. energy grid -- or even a section of it -- is extremely low. The grid isn't as uniform and connected as people might believe. Currently, it's a chaotic patchwork of "grids," each with different types of machines and software that don't smoothly coordinate or communicate.

 

 

 

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China now has more billionaires than the United States.

China now has 596 billionaires, compared to 537 in the U.S. 242 new Chinese billionaires were added to the list over the past year, moving the country ahead of America for the first time.

"Despite the slowdown in the economy, China's richest have defied gravity, recording their best year ever, and creating more wealth than any country has ever done before in a year," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of Hurun Report.

Wang Jianlin of Dalian Wanda recaptured the ranking's top spot from Alibaba (BABA, Tech30) founder Jack Ma. Wang, one of China's top real estate developers, is now worth $34.4 billion, a 52% increase over the previous year.

Wang's strong performance was primarily due to the listing of his cinema chain in Shanghai. Wang has been diversifying his assets, and recently purchased World Triathlon Corporation, which owns the Ironman brand.

Ma, meanwhile, saw his wealth decline 3% to $22.7 billion. Alibaba's shares have fallen sharply since its IPO a year ago.

Earlier this year that many of China's billionaires fly below the radar in an effort to conceal wealth from the authorities. It’s possible to identify roughly 50% of the country's billionaires, while 15% of China's wealth is hidden from the public.

"Think of it like an iceberg, the tip of it is much smaller than the whole," Hoogewerf said. "We do our best to find [hidden money], but they go to such extraordinary lengths to hide it."

 

 

 

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