Wednesday, November 05, 2008

What was the news?

Yahoo Finance sez: "Stocks plunge as investors ponder Obama presidency", and indeed the
Dow was down 5% as was the NASDAQ.

Obama's victory was surely to be expected and thus already capitalized, so what was the news?

That the Republicans still have the filibuster leaving the economy-saving Democrats hamstrung?

Or is it just a case of buyer's remorse?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Um, the market's drop mirrored Obama's rise in the polls pretty well, no? The difference between Monday and today seems to be the difference between an 85% probability and certainty.

Anonymous said...

I read the Yahoo Finance headlines everyday, despite how ridiculous they are. Typically at around 9 AM, they say things like "Stocks head for higher open as investors anticipate Fed rate cut". My experience suggests that about 50% of those market predictions are accurate.

Keyword: as

"As" creates an insinuated correlation. Two independent events are happening - stocks plunging and investors pondering - but it sounds like they are related. I seriously don't think investors are completing surveys about the motivation for their trades, but AP stock market reporters certainly act like it.

I don't think the market/investors were surprised at the outcome of the election.