When my colleagues and I said yesterday that gridlock would be good for Wall St., we didn't mean the kind that would require a legal battle and most likely a recount.

Americans, it seems, by and large have spoken, saying they want change. Democrats have gained a comfortable majority in the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994. As for the Senate, results are now locked at 49 seats each with Montana and Virginia still undecided.

Futures are negative in early morning trade, pointing to a lower start for stocks, probably due to this indecision in the Senate and the possibility the Dems will take both houses. Wall St. likes to know where it stands and doesn't like uncertainties. International stock markets were down with the Nikkei 225 finishing 1.1% lower.

Commenting on the possibility that the Democrats could take both houses, many analysts don't expect a pullback in the stock market, and if there were one, it would be short-term, many say. Despite the market having issues with some suggested Democratic policies such as capital gains tax or minimum wage increase, the issue of the economy was the third most important issue with 50% believing the U.S. economy isn't doing well. Democrats have captured many votes from those.

The question now is how the relationship between the president and the House would be. How would the election outcome affect the war in Iraq, for example, or what measures can the Democrats take before the president uses his veto pen. In case of a tie in the Senate, it is up to vice president Cheney to cast the deciding vote, which in this case would swing the vote the Republican way.

Economic data reported today is limited. At 10:30 a.m. crude inventories will be reported. Usually this does not have a great impact unless inventories surprise one way or the other. Oil prices could then be affected. Oil prices have etched up this morning but are still below $60 a barrel.

Reporting today are: Federated Department Stores (NYSE:FD), Cablevision Systems (NYSE:CVC), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), PG&E Corp. (NYSE:PCG), Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) and News Corp. (NYSE:NWS, NWS.A).

Two companies are expected to fall: True Religion Apparel (NASDAQ:TRLG) plunged 20% in after-hours trading yesterday after reporting disappointing results and lowering outlook for the year, UTStarcom (NASDAQ:UTSI) fell more than 5% in after-hour trading after announcing it would delay the release of its third-quarter earnings.