One Reason NOT To Check My E-mail Every Five Minutes

I've gotten burned before for being less than diligent about checking my inbox, but something happened on election night that made me glad I wasn't furiously refreshing my e-mail as often as I was the live election results from the Ohio and Colorado Secretaries' of State web sites. At 8:04 p.m. (according to the time stamp on the message), an email with the following subject appeared in my Yahoo! Mail inbox: 

WSJ NEWS ALERT: Romney Wins Michigan

The error wasn't limited to the subject line, either; the message read, in part: "Mitt Romney wins Michigan, the Associated Press reports." Of course, Mitt Romney did not win Michigan, and the AP did not project that he had. This message was followed by another at 8:10 with the subject, "WSJ NEWS ALERT: CORRECTION: Obama Wins Michigan".

I won't fault the Wall Street Journal for this mistake, but I hope there weren't too many Romney supporters who were made to feel false (if temporary) joy and crushing disappointment because of it.

Obama Wins; Investors Lose (Billions)

Following, an optimism-fueled Election Day rally on Tuesday, the stock market plunged on Wednesday after Pres. Barack Obama defeated former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney to win a second term. FOX Business Network's Adam Samson reports:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 313 points, or 2.4%, to 12933, the S&P 500 slid 33.9 points, or 2.4%, to 1395 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 74.6 points, or 2.5%, to 2937.

The selloff was broad, with every major sector falling at least 1%. Leading the way lower were financial and energy stocks. The Dow closed below the 13000 mark for the first time since August 2.

In contrast to most one-day selloffs that are followed by a surge the next day, Wednesday's decline continued yesterday, with the Dow sinking another 121.41 points, for a combined 3.3% drop over the last two days. The S&P 500 fell by 17.02 to close at 1,377.51 (it's lowest close since August), and the Nasdaq composite index gave back another 41.71 points.

Is this the beginning of a bear market or just a correction? Whichever is the case, not all of it can fairly be attributed to the president's re-election, but the billions of dollars investors lost this week will be sand off a beach if this country goes off the fiscal cliff. Judging from the tone of President Obama's speech today, he's willing to let that happen.