Replies

Y’all need to watch CNN...here is what they said on 19 Jan:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Optimism about Barack Obama’s first 100 days as president is running high, but Wall Street’s post-inaugural celebration may well be short-lived.

“I think there’s going to be something of an Obama honeymoon for a few weeks,” said Terry L. Morris, senior equity manager at National Penn Investor Trust. “But I think there’s still a lot of pessimism out there about the economy.”

Since 1932, stocks, as measured by the S&P 500, have gained an average of 1.6% in the first 100 days of a new president’s term regardless of the party. The S&P 500 has gained 0.9% on average under a Republican president and 2.2% under a Democrat like Obama, according to research by Standard & Poor’s chief investment strategist Sam Stovall...

History favors the Democrats: Similar to the first 100 days, stocks tend to perform better for the rest of the year when the Democrats are in power, according to S&P. In the subsequent eight months, stocks on average lose 7.7% under Republicans and gain 4.8% under Democrats going back to 1932.

“Election year history favors a Democratic president, but nothing is certain in this world except death, taxes and volatility - of share prices and emotion,” wrote Sam Stovall, S&P’s chief investment strategist in a recent note...

The hope surrounding Obama’s election has been compared to the hope felt after John F. Kennedy’s election in 1960.

For Wall Street, that optimism correlated with higher stock prices. During the first 100 days of JFK’s administration, the S&P 500 gained 8.9%. It gained another 9.6% in the rest of the year, according to S&P...

Stocks are perhaps due for a bigger bear market rally in the first half, but the outlook is so cloudy it’s hard to see what could cause it, said Drew Kanaly, chairman and CEO at Kanaly Trust.

“I think a lot of investors are waiting for the new administration to come in,” he said. “They want to see what they are going to do first before they start participating more fully in the market.”

First Published: January 19, 2009: 3:02 PM ET