Thanksgiving day came and went for Canadians as they sat down with their families, ladeled the gravy, passed the potatoes and tucked in the turkey. But as we were under tryptophan’s trance, our neighbours to the south were buoying American stock markets by snapping up shares at a maddening pace. In fact, the Dow Jones by the end of trading was up over 930 points increasing the value of indexed shares by over 11%, the S&P500 was also up over 11% and the NASDAQ up just under 12%. It was a record setting day on the American markets.
So, what does this mean for Canada? While markets in this country were closed on Monday, there stands a excellent chance — absent an unforeseen event — that our markets will see the same frenzied buying that we saw stateside.
And what does this mean for a Prime Minister who has represented himself as a steady hand in turbulent economic times? While Conservatives have historically been electorally handicapped when the economy is poor, a surging market may deliver an economic stimulus for Stephen Harper on election day.
For Canadians, it will indicate some return of confidence to markets and bolstered optimism for this country’s economic outlook. For traders, tomorrow may see a flurry of panicked buying and for more casual bystanders of the market economy, retirement savings may similarly bounce back.
Election day may in fact be bullish. Will it benefit the incumbent Conservative Prime Minister?
