The Daily's Live Election Blog

LONDON - Financial markets dropped today on concerns that newly re-elected President Barack Obama will struggle to thrash out a budget deal with a divided Congress, and as the EU cut its economic growth forecasts. The ease with which Obama secured four more years in the White House — avoiding the uncertainty of ballot recounts, as in 2000 — had been welcomed in the markets early in the day. However, as the day wore on, investors grew concerned over the implications of a still divided Congress. U.S. stocks opened sharply lower, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 1.3 percent at 13,069 and the broader S&P 500 index off 1.4 percent at 1,408.

- Associated Press