Blogs Send Stocks Into Reverse NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks reversed course suddenly on Tuesday and drifted lower as chatter on the Internet speculated that early exit polls had Sen. John Kerry leading the presidential election in key swing states. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 42 points, or 0.42 percent, at 10,012. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 2 points, or 0.20 percent, at 1,128. And the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.69 of a point, or 0.03 percent, at 1,979. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 had been higher for most of the session, heading for a sixth straight day of gains, but turned south sharply just after 2:30 p.m. EDT on the exit poll speculation. "What we are hearing is that there is some feedback coming back from Ohio, that there could be a closer outcome out there or John Kerry could even potentially win that state," said Evan Olsen, head of equity trading at Stephens Inc. Turnout was unusually high as Americans voted to decide whether Republican incumbent George W. Bush or Kerry, his Democrat rival, would be the next U.S. president. The price of U.S. crude held near $50. The December crude futures contract settled at $49.62 per barrel, down 51 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The S&P aerospace and defense index fell 1.5 percent, led lower by General Dynamics Corp. (GD.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) A Kerry victory could affect defense and health care stocks, said John O'Donoghue, managing director of listed trading at CSFB. General Dynamics Corp. (GD.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) fell $2.19, or 2 percent, to $100.15. The company was seen as a Bush stock since it makes hardware like military vehicles and ships. It was the biggest percentage decliner in the S&P defense index. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index had been up more than 1 percent, while the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average and the broader benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index were up at least 0.6 percent when markets dived in late afternoon trading. The Dow lost about 60 points in 18 minutes. Traders said that part of the slide was due to Internet blogs indicating that Kerry was ahead in key swing states. "That's what we're hearing," said Lisa Hansen, head trader at Transamerica Investment Management. "Apparently the blogs are saying that Kerry is ahead in one or two of the swing states and that's why the market dipped." Keith Keenan, vice president of institutional trading at brokerage Wall Street Access, said he'd heard vague rumors that early exit polls out of Ohio and Florida favored Kerry. "That's some of the chatter I've heard," Keenan said. Quelle "Blogs Send Stocks Into Reverse" : reuters.com Main page for "Blogs Send Stocks Into Reverse"