The victory of Republican Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race instantly alters the balance of power in Washington. Health care stocks rose Tuesday, even as voters went to the polls, on speculation that Brown would win and create an obstacle to President Obama s health-care agenda. But it isn t just health care: The new calculus in Senate voting could send ripples through a variety of sectors.

For environmental companies, for instance, the election could represent a setback, as cap-and-trade legislation could lose support in a Senate less tightly under the Democrats control. And then there s the banking industry, which could benefit from any change in a Senate bent on stricter regulation.

The race was watched closely by investors as the surge by Brown in the polls made clear that the Democratic dynasty in the seat long held by Edward Kennedy was threatened. On Tuesday, the Dow jumped 116 points, partly fueled by a new enthusiasm for health care stocks.

The primary issue for voters in the special election was health care because it s the one that has come to shape Obama s first year in office, says Isaac Wood, a political analyst at the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. No doubt, there will be some fallout in terms of reform passing with Brown in Kennedy s seat.

Some say the Democratic loss might make it tougher for the party to push legislation through in 2010 because it gives Republicans the 41 votes necessary to block Democratic proposals. Losing Kennedy s 60th seat deprives the Democratic party of the filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

SmartMoney looked at other elements of Obama s agenda tied to market sectors to explore the possible aftershocks.

Health-care reform

Brown, a state senator, has said he opposed health care reform in its current state, writing in a Boston Globe op-ed that the bill under discussion now will raise taxes, increase spending and make cuts to Medicare. I will insist we start over, Brown wrote.

Without a filibuster-proof majority, Democrats now have a few options if they want to go forward on health reform. One is to rush the bill through before Brown takes office (a Massachusetts election official has said it could take weeks to certify the election).

It would be risky for Democrats to ram it through, says Bradley Herring, a professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. It could be successful in passing the bill, but risky in how the public perceives the process of enacting this legislation.

Another option is reconciliation, an obscure Senate rule which would allow the bill to be passed through the Senate needing only 51 Democratic votes instead of the 60 a typical bill needs to block a filibuster. However, because the rule applies only to budget legislation, this tactic would guarantee the survival of only certain elements of the bill. A final bill would require Democrats to scale back their vision considerably, says Wood. With a Republican in that 60th seat, it could be an important loophole, says Wood.

Health-care stocks, including Aetna, Pfizer and Merck, got a lift on Tuesday on a bet that a Republican win in Massachusetts would lead to more compromises on reform and give a boost to private-sector players.

But some say the boon was coming either way. I don t think the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry were really worried about this bill passing, says Herring It s not like this bill will dramatically reduce their profits. (If the reform passes, insurers and pharmaceuticals might take a hit on the price of the products they sell, but they would make up for it on volume because millions of formerly uninsured people will be seeking coverage, Herring says.)

Last year, the House voted to pass a global warming bill that included a cap and trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The Senate has not passed a comparable bill. Will Brown have any say on future climate legislation?

Although many liberals had hopes that there would be action on climate change in Obama s second year as president, now there seems to be a backlash from health reform, which is still unresolved. They re seeing how it has eroded Democrats popularity. I think we re unlikely to see any action on climate change, says Wood.

James Stergios, the executive director of the Pioneer Institute, a policy research group focused on Massachusetts, says cap-and-trade legislation is already suffering on the vine, and Brown would be the final nail in the coffin. Brown would probably say cap and trade would, in the immediate term, have a negative impact on the jobs structure, so he would not be open to it, he says. He would also point to flaws in Europe s emissions trade system, Stergios adds.

Jobs/stimulus

Like his Republican colleagues, Brown generally favors frugal and limited government and opposes big deficits.

If the unemployment problem continues, I think any politician would try to do something, and there might be a more modest stimulus package. But the composition of that program would be changed by the Brown victory, says Stergios. His one vote is not going to be critical, Stergios says, but he might look for specific tax cuts, more targeted at research and development.

Coakley losing this race is certainly a big blow to further stimulative legislation. But two months from now, the latest economic news would have far more importance than this race, says Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research, a progressive economic policy think tank.

Financial reform

Obama is going to make the economy his top priority in 2010, largely because of the midterm elections scheduled for November. Voters in 2010 are going to ask themselves, Which party do I believe is going to be the best for me? And for most people, that s going to come down to a question of jobs and the economy, says Wood.

including Obama s recent proposal to tax than they were on health reform, Wood says. They understand that populism is a powerful force in midterm elections, he says. They want to stand up against the banks and big business.