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Elections Mean Bad News for Stock Markets

By , About.com Guide

Change and uncertainty are two words that make the stock market and investors nervous.

However, that’s what this Election Day brought to Washington and that won’t be good news for the market.

Republicans lost absolute control of the Congress and the White House, with the House of Representatives and the Senate shifting to Democratic control.

With President George Bush in office for two more years, the word “gridlock” comes to mind, as bipartisanism will be hard to come by.

The conventional wisdom is business largely favors the Republican Party it sees as more “business friendly.”

However, when President Clinton, a Democrat, was squared off against a Republican Congress, the economy experienced the greatest expansion in modern history. The stock market soared on the wings of the tech stocks.

The national deficit was erased and a surplus created.

Things haven’t gone that well with Republicans controlling both the White House and Congress.

How this will effect the market is unknown, but don’t be surprised to see a sell off.

In any event, we are headed for a period of political uncertainty and that will not be good news for the markets.

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