Chart of the day

Today's chart presents the 10 best performing the Dow sectors (out of more than 100) for November 8-9th, the two days following the 2006 election. The tire sector did especially well thanks to better than expected third-quarter results from Goodyear. Goodyear and its union also indicated that they are ready to resume talks to resolve an ongoing strike. As for election themes, the best performers tended to be from the precious metals and oil sectors. While gold surged partly in reaction to statements from the People's Bank of China suggesting that China may begin to diversify some of its US dollar assets into gold, the election is being viewed, in part, as a vote for change in regards to the current Iraq policy. However, the policy shift that the US government will ultimately undertake remains unclear and it appears that the global financial markets are placing a premium on this uncertainty.