Yesterday, CNN was gloating about how much the Stock Market was going up

[MoonRiver]

because the Thugs took over Congress. Well, it just went up by a few points to my recollection, and is doing about the same today. So much for that lying meme.

[unblock]

1. at some point the stock market remembers, oh, yeah, we do better under democrats.

from clinton to today, the dow has what, more than quintupled? and probably about 120% of those gains were under democratic presidents.

the market rallies when republicans win election because the people with money are happy, not because it's a better investment.

[Politicalboi]

2. Give till January

And we'll see where this is really going.

[Xyzse]

3. You're probably right. I would have said Mid-December, but that is Holiday Season.

So we are buoyed by the spending, until we find out in January that consumers didn't spend as much as they wanted to.

[oldandhappy]

4. and gold is down!

So if the worlds most loved investment is down -- ??

[onenote]

14. Gold often trades in an inverse relationship with stocks

Not always, but often. The drop in gold prices probably reflects a combination of factors, primarily the fact that stocks are up and also a correction to gold prices getting too high (markets do tend to "correct" -- I suspect we will see a correction in the stock market from its current surge in the not too distant future, but if the pattern of the past few years holds, the correction will go too far in the other direction and will turn around. Which is why I always chuckle when I see people write about the market being in a "free fall" -- that rarely is the case.

[gratuitous]

5. Well, that's pretty conclusive

Happy days are here again, right CNN?

Here's a fun little bit of information on the stock market closing numbers for some randomly selected dates:

Jan. 22, 2001: 10,578.24
Nov. 07, 2006: 12,156.77 An increase of 14.9% over nearly six years

Jan. 20, 2009: 7,949.09
Nov. 05, 2014: 17,484.53 An increase of 120% over nearly six years

By the way, take a look at the difference between the 2006 and 2009 numbers, and remind yourself once again who was the MBA Republican occupying the Oval Office.

[Vinca]

6. You could speculate that it was going up because

people realized they'd better make their money while they can before the GOP tanks the economy again. Hello 2008.

[MoonRiver]

7. But the point is that the markets DIDN'T go up substantially, just a few points.

CNN was predicting a massive gain on 11/5.

[hfojvt]

8. well the market did not seem upset anyway

but then again, much of this was expected for quite some time the media has been predicting it.

Also, "the market" is mostly people in the top 5% and so why wouldn't they be happy with a Republican win?

[MoonRiver]

10. I don't think the markets give a rat's ass about who controls this totally dysfunctional congress.

Jobs numbers, corporate profits, geopolitical crises etc. are market movers. Not a bunch of tea bag loonies.

[Dawson Leery]

9. Propaganda. CNN is s**t from a horses ass.

[belzabubba333]

11. it has been going up for some time now

[MoonRiver]

12. I know, but apparently CNN seized the opportunity to credit that to the Thug

wins.

[onenote]

13. The market went up 100 points Wednesday. Is up 47 so far today

Which is consistent with the fact that no matter how the election comes out, historically the market does well in the six months following mid-term elections.

Over the past 60 years, the best results for the calendar year following a mid-term are (i) when the President is a Democrat and both houses of Congress are controlled by repubs or (ii) when the President is a Republican and both houses are controlled by the republicans (up 15 percent). The next best results are when (i) the President is a Democrat and the houses are split between the parties (up 13 percent) and (ii) when the President is a Democrat and both houses are controlled by Democrats (9.8 percent). The worst results (but still positive) are (i) when there is a repub president and the Democrats control both houses (4.9 percent) and (ii) when the president is a republican and the houses are split (3.5 percent).

The significance of these figures is pretty hypothetical given the relatively small sample size and the fact that many other factors could be impacting market performance. If you go back to 1901 and look at the same combinations, the best results are (i) Democratic President/Split Congress (13 percent); (ii) Democratic President/repubs control both houses (8.6); (iii) Democratic president/Democrats control both houses (8.4); (iv) Repub president/Repubs control both houses (6.4); (v) Repub President/Democrats control both houses (4.9); and (vi) Repub president/split congress (3.2 percent).

Again, I don't think these numbers really prove a hell of a lot.