Positive Economic News Can't Stop Post-Election Decline

We're over the panic-selling of yesterday's market, but investors still aren't in a buying mood today. As of 3:15 p.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI ) is down 0.45%, while the S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC ) has fallen 0.7%.

Strong economic news did little to reassure jittery markets. New jobless claims dropped 8,000 last week to 355,000, which was slightly better than expected. In a big surprise for economists, the trade deficit narrowed to $41.5 billion in September, and exports climbed to an all-time high of $187 billion. Both of these reports could be seen as bullish for the market, but investors are looking past them today.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) and JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM ) have turned their frowns upside down and are up 2.9% and 0.6%, respectively, for the day. Yesterday's huge sell-off was a tad overdone, and investors who didn't buy into the panic-selling are getting in today. JPMorgan also got the OK from the Fed to start buying back shares, and investors may be betting that Bank of America will soon do the same.

On the downside, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) fell 1.7% today after announcing that same-store sales fell 1.8% in October. But it isn't Europe and the U.S. that led the drop, as you might expect. Sales in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa fell 2.4%, while more mature markets performed better.

In energy markets, oil has gained nearly 1% today after a big decline yesterday. The commodity will likely fluctuate wildly heading into the fiscal cliff, but I would be shocked to see it move dramatically lower from here.

Are banking stocks a buy again?
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Fool contributor Travis Hoium has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. You can follow Travis on Twitter at @FlushDrawFool, check out his personal stock holdings or follow his CAPS picks at TMFFlushDraw.

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Report this Comment On November 08, 2012, at 3:51 PM, dregstudios wrote:

Despite all odds, our President prevailed. He still has an uphill battle fighting a Red House which has blocked his every move in an attempt to squash his goals of bringing the Middle Class equal pay, women’s rights, gay rights and affordable healthcare. The Bush Administration drove our economy into a swift nose dive and Obama is still the patsy. Watch conservative hands paint him in Blackface with a visual commentary of how Barack has been bamboozled at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2012/10/bamboozling-obama...
Report this Comment On November 08, 2012, at 4:14 PM, Hestheone wrote:

Gee, maybe if the positive economic news wasn't a sham folks would have more faith. The 'seasonally adjusted' employment/unemployment numbers are terrible. Banks are still poor investments because of years of unregulated mismanagement. The derivatives still exist in their portfolios. They may not be lending at 33 to one (because they stopped lending at all for the most part) but lots of loans - good and bad - are on the books. Obama got re-elected however the next four years are going to be more of the same shenanigans from the Bush years.

updated Moments ago Sponsored by:
	DOW	15,350.29	-37.29	-0.24%
	S&P 500	1,660.03	-9.13	-0.55%
	NASD	3,471.53	-30.59	-0.87%

MCD	$101.71		-0.43	-0.42%
McDonald's		CAPS Rating:

JPM	$53.73		+0.71	+1.34%
JPMorgan Chase & C…		CAPS Rating:

BAC	$13.42		-0.03	-0.19%
Bank of America Co…		CAPS Rating:

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Positive Economic News Can't Stop Post-Election Decline

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Report this Comment On November 08, 2012, at 3:51 PM, dregstudios wrote:

Report this Comment On November 08, 2012, at 4:14 PM, Hestheone wrote:

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