Post-Election Blues: Dow Falls Nearly 500 Points

Using history to look ahead, it appears that a Democratic victory will be good for Wall Street. The S&P 500 has risen more in the past under Democratic presidencies than Republican ones.

From the time a Democrat has been elected until the time a new president has been chosen, the S&P 500 has increased by a median of 62 percent, according to Bloomberg. For Republicans, the increase was 28 percent.

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Big Campaign Donations

Workers in the financial, insurance and real estate fields gave more money to presidential candidates this election than any other profession, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. They donated $123.8 million, with $65.1 million going to Democrats and $58.6 million to Republicans.

The next largest group was lawyers and lobbyists, donating $89 million. They slanted heavily Democratic, with 77 percent of their cash going to Democrats.

Looking at all candidates for federal office -- president, Senate and House -- Goldman Sachs led the charge for Wall Street; its employees donated $4.6 million to candidates. The firm leaned heavily toward the Democrats, with its employees giving 73 percent of their money to the party's candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Morgan Stanley was next, with its workers giving 58 percent of their money to Democrats, followed by UBS giving 55 percent to Democrats.

Merrill Lynch was the only big firm to lean Republican, giving 51 percent to that party's candidates. The other failed Wall Street firms this year -- Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns -- gave 66 percent and 58 percent to Democrats, respectively.

Private equity firms tended to lean more toward the Republicans.

Workers at the Blackstone Group, headed by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, gave 53 percent of their money to Republican candidates. Employees at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, led by founding partners Henry R. Kravis and George R. Roberts, gave a whopping 80 percent of their money to Republicans.

The one notable outlier: the Carlyle Group, where employees gave 64 percent of their money to Democrats.