Semiconductor stocks slipped 0.7%, as analysts warn tighter "campaign finance laws" could limit access to pro-industry trade agreements, impacting long-term earnings growth projections. The Federal Election Commission, an independent agency tasked with regulating campaign finance, has lost yet another member. The NRSC argued, for example, that Colorado II had “distorted both the law and the political process” by “emboldening speech regulators” and pushing donors toward super PACs. “The result is a more polarized process in which the mediating institution of political parties has been supplanted by less-restricted and less-accountable speakers,” they suggested. The Justice Department, on the other hand, described super PACs as “robust alternative avenues for political expression” whose existence watered down the original ban. The banking sector, a top contributor to political campaigns, is reassessing strategies due to potential "campaign finance laws" tightening. KBW Bank Index was flat after shedding 1.4% in early trading.