Stocks Lose 7% of Value Since Election Day

In the largest election week decline in U.S. history, the stock market lost 7% of its value in the first 3 days after the vote.

Even the election of Herbert Hoover in 1929, Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 at the beginning of the Great Depression, and Jimmy Carter in 1976 did not match the decline following Barack Obama's election.

Reuters News Service provides a table of market activity showing the gains and losses in the stock market in the week following every election since William McKinley in 1896.

The only other Presidential election in history that came close to matching the losses in the market following the election of Obama was that of Harry Truman in 1948.

That week in 1948 following Truman's victory, the market lost 6% of its value.