YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks began the day firmly in the red after Barack Obama was reelected to a second term as president. Contributing to the bearish sentiment were comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi who said that the European debt crisis is starting hurt the German economy. The negative outlook was confirmed by this morning's Eurozone Autumn Forecast, which also pointed to an expected slowdown in the German economy. Further, the country's industrial production report showed a 1.8% month-over-month decrease, while the reading was expected to reflect a more palatable decline of 0.5%. The S&P 500 spent the first two hours of the session in a steady sell-off, before stabilizing near the 1,400 level and ending with a loss of 2.4% on heavy volume.

The financial sector saw the widest losses, and the SPDR Financials Select Sector ETF (XLF 15.61, -0.54) fell 3.3%. Among the majors, Morgan Stanley (MS 16.63, -1.56) and Bank of America (BAC 9.23, -0.71) were two of the weakest names as they settled lower by 8.6% and 7.1%, respectively.

Real estate investment trusts saw relative strength as compared to the remainder of the financial sector. The Vanguard REIT Index ETF (VNQ 64.68, -0.29) shed 0.5%. Looking at individual REITs, American Tower Corporation (AMT 75.24, +1.47) gained 2.0% after AT&T (T 33.63, -1.16) announced plans to modernize and expand its network. Meanwhile, Public Storage (PSA 143.34, +2.31) advanced 1.6%, and healthcare REIT Ventas (VTR 64.12, +0.21) rose by 0.3%.

With crude oil down over 4.5%, energy stocks saw notable weakness. Among major energy producers, Exxon Mobil (XOM 88.18, -2.86), Chevron (CVX 107.51, -2.85), and Anadarko Petroleum (APC 70.41, -2.66) lost between 2.5% and 3.6%.

Providers of energy equipment also underperformed. ION Geophysical (IO 6.39, -0.36) and Basic Energy Services (BAS 9.47, -0.56) closed lower by 5.3% and 5.6%, respectively.

Coal stocks saw broad losses after presidential challenger and coal proponent, Mitt Romney, was denied his bid for the White House. The Market Vectors Coal ETF (KOL 24.45, -1.42) lost 5.5%. Arch Coal (ACI 7.58, -1.08) was one of the weakest performers, and fell 12.5%. Peers Peabody Energy (BTU 26.24, -2.80), CONSOL Energy (CNX 33.28, -2.16), Walter Energy (WLT 34.26, -3.05) saw respective losses of 9.6%, 6.1%, and 8.2%.

The health care sector outperformed the broader market due to strength in hospital operators. During the presidential campaign, the Affordable Care Act was a point of contention, and Mr. Romney threatened to repeal the law if elected. Mr. Obama's reelection bodes well for healthcare stocks which benefit from the law. Community Health Systems (CYH 30.39, +1.71) and Health Management Associates (HMA 8.28, +0.56) gained 6.0% and 7.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, Tenet Healthcare (THC 27.34, +2.39) surged 9.6%.

Homebuilders saw narrower losses than the broader market and the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB 26.43, -0.27) slipped 1.0%. Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV 5.50, +0.19) and Lennar (LEN 39.05, +0.16) rose by 3.6% and 0.4%, respectively.

Elsewhere, gun maker stocks outperformed. Sturm, Ruger & Co (RGR 47.68, +3.04) gained 6.8% and Smith & Wesson (SWHC 10.36, +0.90) soared 9.6%.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average outperformed the remaining industrials. Within the 20-stock complex only United Continental (UAL 20.53, +0.06) traded in the black. The air carrier added 0.3%.

Freight carrier Con-way (CNW 28.56, -1.23) was the biggest laggard among transportation stocks, down 4.1%. Railroads also lagged. Kansas Southern (KSU 79.67, -2.53) and CSX (CSX 20.23, -0.63) both lost near 3.0%.

Looking at earnings, News Corp (NWSA 24.67, +0.39) finished higher by 1.6% after beating on earnings. During the first quarter, the media company earned $0.43 on $8.14 billion in revenue. The company's bottom line exceeded the Capital IQ consensus estimate by $0.05, while the revenue was in-line with expectations.

WellPoint (WLP 57.85, -3.35) slid 5.5% after the health benefits company reported mixed earnings. WLP earned $2.09, which was $0.25 better than the Capital IQ consensus estimate. However, the company's revenue of $15.13 billion was reported below expectations. Following the earnings release, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock to ‘underperform' from ‘buy.'

In today's economic news, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index showed a 5.0% decrease in new applications. This follows prior week's decline of 4.8%.

Meanwhile, consumer credit increased by $11.4 billion in September. This follows prior month's reading of an $18.1 billion increase, and was higher than the $10.6 billion that had been broadly expected among economists polled by Briefing.com.

Tomorrow, weekly initial and continuing claims and the September trade balance will all be released at 8:30 ET.

Crude oil tumbled deeper into negative territory on broad market weakness and a stronger dollar following the re-election of Barack Obama as the country's President. Inventory data that showed a build of 1.766 mln barrels when a build of 1.8 mln barrels was anticipated did little to change crude's downward trend. The energy component dipped as low as $84.05 per barrel moments before it settled pit trade with a 4.6% loss at $84.50 per barrel.

Similarly, precious metals feel into negative territory alongside the equities market. Gold fell off its session high of $1730.00 per ounce and dipped as low as $1703.00 per ounce. However, buyers stepped in and took prices back to near the unchanged level by afternoon pit trade. Gold settled the session just $0.40 lower at $1714.10 per ounce.

Silver traded as high as $32.28 per ounce in early morning floor action but tumbled to a session low of $31.22 per ounce. It also attempted to erase losses but eventually settled 1.1% lower at $31.67 per ounce.

Natural gas also spent its entire floor session in the red. It brushed a session high of $3.60 per MMBtu and touched a session low of $3.56 per MMBtu before it settled 1.1% lower at $3.58 per MMBtu.

The U.S. Treasury will auction off $16 billion in 30-yr bonds.DJ30 -312.95 NASDAQ -74.64 SP500 -33.86 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 377/2.0 bln/2120 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 557/878.1 mln/2550