American financial markets are very interested in the outcome of today's elections of course, but their first focus may be on the "when" more than the "who."
Some states have been saying it could be days or even weeks before all ballots are counted, and that lack of timeliness hasn't been conducive to market stability in the past.
While most people are concentrating on who the winners might be, the markets are more concerned in the short run with how quickly the election results -- and the resulting changes or continuity of public policies -- are known.
Newsradio 740 KTRH Money Man Pat Shinn recalls the year 2000, when it was 36 days after the presidential election before we all found out that Republican George W. Bush was the winner, but in that time the S&P 500 sold off 8%, while the NASDAQ dropped a whopping 24%.
"And in 2004 we then had George Bush versus John Kerry. On Election Day...exit polls were showing John Kerry would win. Well, the following day Bush won the election, the stock market rallied 10% from that day after the election until the end of the year.
"The bottom line: Once the winner is known and once we have a decisive winner I think the market will do just fine.
"So my advice is don't make any trade surrounding the election.
"In fact, Warren Buffet said it best: He says 'While markets hate uncertainty, uncertainty is a long-term investor's best friend."