Year Dow S&P Nasdaq President elect
2008 -5.05 -5.27 -5.53 Barack Obama
2004 +1.01 +1.12 +0.98 George W. Bush
2000 -0.41 -1.58 -5.39 No decision: G.W. Bush v Al Gore*
1996 +1.59 +1.46 +1.34 William Clinton
1992 -0.91 -0.67 +0.16 William Clinton
1988 -0.43 -0.66 -0.29 George H. W. Bush
1984 -0.88 -0.73 -0.32 Ronald Reagan
1980 +1.70 +1.77 +1.49 Ronald Reagan
1976 -0.99 -1.14 -1.12 James Carter
1972 -0.11 -0.55 -0.39 Richard Nixon
1968 +0.34 +0.16 --- Richard Nixon
1964 -0.19 -0.05 --- Lyndon Johnson
1960 +0.77 +0.44 --- John Kennedy
1956 -0.85 -1.03 --- Dwight Eisenhower
1952 +0.40 +0.28 --- Dwight Eisenhower
1948 -3.85 -4.15 --- Harry Truman
1944 -0.27 0.00 --- Franklin Roosevelt
1940 -2.39 -3.14 --- Franklin Roosevelt
1936 +2.26 +1.40 --- Franklin Roosevelt
1932 -4.51 -2.67 --- Franklin Roosevelt
1928 +1.20 +1.77 --- Herbert Hoover
1924 +1.17 --- --- Calvin Coolidge
1920 -0.57 --- --- Warren Harding
1916 -0.35 --- --- Woodrow Wilson
1912 +1.83 --- --- Woodrow Wilson
1908 +2.38 --- --- William Taft
1904 +1.30 --- --- Theodore Roosevelt
1900 +3.33 --- --- William McKinley
1896 +4.54 --- --- William McKinley

Intresting to note that FDR had the worst prior.



I wonder what it realy means, or that this is just a sign of the volitital times we live in

I'm thinking the guaranteed increase in long-term captial gains rate that will come with a BHO admin may have something to do with it. The rate is currently 15% for positions held at least a year. I'm pretty confident that I've heard people on his campaign talk about kicking it up to 25% . That is the rate it was at under Clinton I believe, not terribly onerous IMHO but still a tax increase of 67%. I'd be selling too if I still held any stocks in my non-IRA account for that reason alone. Personally I'm not deploying any money into long term positions till after I see how BHO will rule (and also I don't think the credit crunch/economic crisis is anywhere near over).

Non-election related, we've had a bit of a rally of late, and smart money is taking profits where they can take them in this market. Also, I'm hearing that consumer spending for October, in a Year-over-year comparison with last year, is down by a truly frightening amount ( I heard 80%, but I'm so scared that number may be right I haven't looked it up yet.)