Dow Te Ching

From The Washington Post:

The way things are going, it's possible President Bush will be the third incumbent in three decades to seek reelection with the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower than when he took office, our colleague Lucy Shackelford reports.

The average of 30 large stocks was 60 points (or 6 percent) lower in November 1976, when President Gerald R. Ford ran for a first full term than it was four years earlier when Richard M. Nixon took the oath for the second time. It was 23 points (2 percent) lower in November 1980, when Jimmy Carter ran for reelection, than it was when he took the oath four years earlier. And we know what happened to Ford and Carter.

The one exception? Daddy dearest.

On the other hand, the exception turns out to be George H.W. Bush in 1992. In that race, the market was 1,027 points (or 46 percent) higher for Bush I when he ran again, but even that didn't help.

The current President Bush saw the Dow drop from 10,588 when he took the oath to a low of 7,286 in October 2002. But it has come back smartly since then. Still, the numbers are less than one would hope.

Another drop today pushed the Dow below 10,000 for the first time since May, and continues its worst losing streak in two years.