(Reuters)

Republican former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama won the contests for their parties' nominations in Iowa on Thursday, the first of state-by-state votes to decide candidates for the 2008 U.S. presidential election, U.S. media reported.

Following is some reaction:

CHARLES BIDERMAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF TRIM TABS INVESTMENT

RESEARCH IN SANTA ROSA, CALIF.

"I don't think Wall Street knows his (Huckabee's) economic platform. The scary thing about it for me is that he seems like a right-wing populist. I'm not sure what his economic platform is and who his economic supporters. We know who's backing Hillary (Clinton) and who is backing (Rudy) Giuliani. Huckabee is an unknown. I don't think he's electable.

RICHARD STEINBERG, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER

OF STEINBERG GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD, IN BOCA RATON,

FLORIDA

"Huckabee's a sideshow. He plays well in Iowa, he will not play well in the rest of the country. This is his 15 minutes of fame. If that's the Republican's best candidate, the Republicans are in trouble. I think Wall Street is still banking on Hillary, Giuliani."

DONNA BRAZILE, TOP POLITICAL STRATEGIST FOR AL GORE IN 2000

"She (Hillary Clinton) must change her message. She has to be more in sync with what voters want. They want change."

"I don't count Sen. Clinton out of this race because she has strong institutional support in New Hampshire."

"She still has a great deal of resources she can bring to bear in some of those early states. This is still a very tough fight for Obama as we look down the road."

JIM HARDESTY, PRESIDENT OF HARDESTY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT IN

BALTIMORE

ON OBAMA:

"I am surprised as to the fact that he seems to have prevailed. I thought Mrs. Clinton would win. This is going to be a long race and there are some fairly entrenched positions. He made a first strike if you will. Wall Street's reaction will be ...

Mr. Obama gives these speeches about I'm for change. What is the change? That is a very difficult issue for me. Change, change change, well that's nice. What do you want to change?"

JIM AWAD, CHAIRMAN OF W.P. STEWART & CO. LTD. IN NEW YORK

"Tonight creates more questions than answers on both the Democratic and Republican sides. It creates some uncertainty. New Hampshire is less than a week away. A lot of questions will be answered in New Hampshire. I do not believe tonight's results will affect the markets in any meaningful way."

CHIP HANLON, PRESIDENT DELTA GLOBAL ADVISORS, INC. IN

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA,

ON HUCKABEE:

"I sincerely doubt this means Huckabee is electable. There is a lot of dissatisfaction among Republicans not only with the field but with Republicans themselves ... This is a dissatisfaction vote ... the only people who were fired up for this were the evangelicals. I find it hard to believe Wall Street will back Huckabee, they'd prefer Romney or Gilman. But Romney finishing second to Huckabee has to be a red flag in the eyes of Wall Street.

ON OBAMA:

"It's very interesting ... Hillary Clinton has to be as unlikable as people say for her to squander the advantage she has of the Clinton election machine ... But an Obama presidency would be the worst outcome because every Democratic legislation ... will sail right through including big regulatory plans and the like. They don't believe spending is a problem.

FORMER WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR DAVID GERGEN (on CNN)

"(Democrat) John Edwards has nowhere to go now. He has no money. He had everything staked on this one state."

CRAIG HESTER, CEO OF HESTER CAPITAL MANAGEMENT IN AUSTIN

"Anybody's electable at this stage. No one thought (former President Bill) Clinton was electable and he went on to win it and become president.. A win in Iowa will give (Huckabee) some momentum; the real test may be in New Hampshire. I think this field is wide open. There's still a lot to be found out about this guy."

GEORGES YARED, FOUNDER AND CHIEF INVESTMENT STRATEGIST, YARED

INVESTMENT RESEARCH IN MINNEAPOLIS

"If anything, he's (Huckabee's) legitimized his candidacy on a nationwide basis with this victory but I don't believe he'd be able to carry this through to New Hampshire. But if in New Hampshire he were to take 3rd or 2nd then he'd be formidable. Wall Street is going to hold back its check book to see what happens in New Hampshire."

DONG TAO, CHIEF CHINA ECONOMIST WITH CREDIT SUISSE, HONG KONG

"It's way too early to think about how this will impact Asian countries. The winner in the first result is not necessarily the candidate for each party.

But in general, if the Democrats get into office they are likely to take a more protectionist attitude in international trade especially when the U.S. economy slows down. The Republicans are seen as more pro-business and pro-liberalization.

STEPHEN ROBERTS, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, LEHMAN BROTHERS AUSTRALIA

"This is so early in the process that markets really can't take anything out of this one tiny sample. It's still impossible to say who will run, no matter who will be president in the end, so there's nothing to base an investment decision on. Maybe when Super Tuesday is out the way, we will know more.