Unlike the last few years, when the market's march upward appeared limitless, stocks have been down for most of 2000. The Dow Jones industrial average is off more nearly 6 percent and the Nasdaq composite index down 15 percent since Jan. 1, the result of the plunge in high-tech and Internet stocks and a series of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The central bank, hoping to restrain inflation, raised rates to slow the nation's economic growth to a more sustainable level. Investors have also been preoccupied by higher energy prices and a falling European currency, two trends that have already hurt corporate profits and, in turn, stock prices. Not Sure What to Expect Still, by many other measures, the economy is healthy and continues to grow.
Unemployment is low and people are still spending money.
And so Wall Street itself isn't even sure what to expect on Tuesday. A Gore victory is expected to pressure those stocks, while boosting industries that profit from tighter environmental regulation. Assessing voter sentiment is equally difficult. With that in mind, Gore could have done more to make the nation's prosperity an issue, Vavreck said. I don't think Gore has done that because he's tried to disconnect himself with the Clinton administration.