Golodryga dismissed the idea out of hand. "A lot of people are worried about that, "she said. "The fact that Obama won was something that was really factored into the market, going back a few months ago. Remember the market is a forward looking indicator. Right now, we're just dealing with these really, really bleak numbers coming out regarding the economy. And there's also profit-taking as well."
Forbes.com was one of the only media outlets to analyze the situation differently. Steve Schaefer, Markets Reporter for Forbes was "Looking for the 'Obama Effect'" in his Nov. 5 article. According to his analysis, the market's dive was somewhat related to Obama.
"Wall Street tanked Wednesday, as investors fixated on weak economic indicators and pulled the prior session's gains off the table. The market was also beginning to visualize what a Barack Obama presidency will mean for business, after the Illinois senator won Tuesday's election," Schaefer wrote.
But Schaefer cautioned against reading "too much into Wednesday's trading." Schaefer's story admitted that certain types of businesses might be "at risk" under Obama, including tobacco, "Big Oil," brokers, pharmaceuticals and others.
7. Barack Obama sends stocks soaring, but not sinking.
Media myth: Journalists gave the new president-elect credit for an Election Day stock market rally, but when markets collapsed Obama got a pass.
Originally published by the Business & Media Institute
As stocks rose on Election Day 2008, the media were more than happy to credit investors' excitement over Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama's chance of winning. But when stocks tanked in the days following Obama's election, concern over Obama's economic policies was the last possible culprit.
The Dow fell four trading days out of five following the election, and by the close Nov. 11 was still down more than 600 points from its Nov. 3 close. Stocks were also trading lower on Nov. 12 "after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced changes to the government's bailout plan," according to BusinessWeek.com. The Dow had shed over 3 percent by 11:35 a.m. according to the article.
Yet, one global news agency [which one?] trumpeted the biggest Election Day rally "in history" as an "Obama effect," while many others declared that investors were simply "relieved" to see the end of the campaign.
But then the markets went into what CNBC's Melissa Lee termed a "tailspin." Nov. 5 and 6 losses became the worst two-day decline since the 1987 crash, but the three networks placed no amount of blame on Obama.
Out of 23 stories on ABC, NBC and CBS only one asked about the "notion" that the election outcome could influence the stock market negatively.
Chris Cuomo was the only network reporter to ask about a potential Obama connection to the drop. On Nov. 7 "Good Morning America" he asked ABC News correspondent Bianna Golodryga "What do you make of the notion that the drop in the stock market is a function of the election?" [Click 'read more' to continue]
