Prices declined again, as the DJIA and the NASDAQ fell for the fifth time in the last six days. Yet before blaming the fiscal cliff fad and selling out, consider the following: price drops are far from unusual after presidential elections. That includes Democrats, Republicans, incumbents or successful challengers.
Losses are sharpest for the NASDAQ; these declined an average of -.33 percent in the first five days after presidential elections since 1952. This centurys post-election losses are even steeper, averaging -1.05 percent for these days.
Fortunately, the negative impact declines as Election Day recedes. The NASDAQ daily loss comes to -.88 percent for days six through ten; it falls even more to average -.39 percent in days eleven through fifteen.
The DJIA and the S&P500 suffer parallel losses, though their declines are not as deep.
Before shrugging off these latest losses, though, consider the other fundamentals of recent days uncertain tax and deficit policy revisions, mounting discord and violence studded European demonstrations- before putting these post-presidential in a curiosity box.
DJIA -.46 percent
NASDAQ -.70 percent
S&P500 -.40 percent
