by Marc Bastow | November 7, 2012 5:15 pm
[1]A post Obama re-election[2] selloff on Wall Street started early Wednesday morning and snowballed into a year-worst 313-point loss for the Dow that sent the index below 13,000 for the first time since early September.
An unsettling report on continued slow economic growth in Europe — and Germany in particular — didn’t help.
At the day’s close, the Dow fell 2.36% to 12,932.73, the S&P shed 2.37% to 1,394.53, and the Nasdaq suffered the worst, falling 2.48% to 2,937.29.
Financial stocks were stomped out Wednesday, with Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS[3], -8%) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC[4], -7%) among the hardest-hit as investors showed concern that the election of Senator Elizabeth Warren[5] in Massachusetts might lead to greater bank regulation.
Also falling were Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS[6], -6%), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM[7], -5%) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC[8], -4%).
The selloff was broad-based, though, with coal and other energy stocks falling sharply[9] after rallying last month on hopes for a different administration. Among some of the biggest movers were James River Coal (NASDAQ:JRCC[10]), which plummeted 30%, and Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE:ANR[11]), down 12%. Oil companies Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM[12]) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX[13]) also slipped, with XOM down more than 3% and CVX down over 2.5% as oil prices sunk.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[14]) continued a recent slide[15], falling nearly 4% on the day taking the S&P 500 and Nasdaq down with it. The biggest news dogging Apple on Wednesday was a $368 million lawsuit settlement with holding company VirnetX Holding (AMEX:VHC[16]). Apple now has shed about 15% in the past month.
Chipmaker Intel (NASDAQ:INTC[17]) also saw a big move down on the day, losing over 3%.
Still, it wasn’t all bad news. A few stocks looking to benefit from an unchecked rolling-out of Obamacare rose. Hospital operator HCA (NYSE:HCA[18]) was up just nearly 10% on the day, as was healthcare services operator Tenet Healthcare (NYSE:THC[19]). Health Management Associates (NYSE:HMA[20]) rose more than 7%, and Vanguard Health Systems (NYSE:VHS[21]) rose finished up 5%.
On a slow earnings day, Time Warner (NYSE:TWX[22]) shares rose more than 4% after the posting higher-than-expected profits for the third quarter thanks to strength in its cable networks.
Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he was long AAPL, XOM and TWX.
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