And then there are the investors who are frozen in the market by nothing more than ticker shock.

Maybe it was cool-headed professionalism or perhaps it was some weird form of combat fatigue that might someday become a part of the American lexicon of psychological ailments, under the heading "ticker shock" or "Apocalypse Dow."
But Monday evening, as Milwaukee's financial centers exhaled their bear-clawed bankers, brokers and deal-makers, the buzz around town was generally low-key.

The long-shot Democratic contender was not selling short in anticipation of the wake on Wall Street. Rather, Gore was searching for political portfolio insurance: reliable information about the direction of the markets. All presidential candidates were similarly affected by ticker shock during a dizzying week in which requests for quotes sent aides scurrying after the Dow Jones industrial average rather than Bartlett's.