Dow Tumbles 4% Despite Wall Street’s Cheers for Obama

Annelena Lobb reports on the scene in downtown New York. A crowd gathered in the plaza outside the New York Stock Exchange, braving the winter chill to watch President Barack Obama ’s inaugural address on a large outdoor screen. Some were employees from nearby offices. A group of children and a chaperone looked for a place to stand, waving little American flags, and shouting “O-ba-ma!” in unison. When Obama was introduced, the crowd burst into applause and a cheer. On the floor of the stock exchange, located just across the street from the spot where George Washington took the first presidential oath, traders began to cluster around smaller screens to hear the inaugural address, some executing trades on handheld devices. “He’s set up his economic team, he’s pushed to get the TARP money released [and for] a bigger-than-expected stimulus package,” Warren Meyers , managing partner at trading firm W.J. Dowd Inc., said just before the speech began. “You’ve got to be optimistic on a ... (link)